Kris Meeke has extended his advantage on Rally Mexico to an impressive 30.9 seconds and the Briton has just two stages standing between himself and a maiden victory for the new Citroën C3 WRC. A spin by second placed Ogier aided Meeke’s cause, but the Frenchman is happy to maintain second for valuable points in the Championship. Third position is still held by Thierry Neuville, the Belgian admitting he simply didn’t have the pace to match his rivals unless they hit problems.

Today was the longest day of the event and took in two loops of three stages, before a trio of super special stages rounded off the action closer to León. Meeke started the day just over 20 seconds ahead of Ogier and narrowly extended his lead after a trouble-free run this morning. This afternoon it was all about tyre choices and Meeke was able to capitalise over what he described as a decisive second loop, benefitting again when Ogier spun in a slow hairpin and lost 10 seconds. Ogier picked up cosmetic damage this morning, running wide and hitting the undergrowth and, apart from his spin, had a clean run through the repeated stages, winning one of them and then also the final short stage. Behind the top two, Neuville is 39.6 seconds adrift of Ogier. The Belgian struggled on soft tyres this afternoon when forecasted rain never arrived, but a clean and smooth drive has reaped rewards and he sits comfortably in third position.

Ott Tänak lacked confidence this morning, not entirely comfortable with the set-up of his Fiesta, but the Estonian moved ahead of Juho Hänninen, the Finn fighting illness. He ran well this afternoon with one fastest time and now holds a lonely fourth overall. Hayden Paddon fought for grip earlier in the day and clouted a rock, picking up a puncture in the process. He is fifth. Hänninen has stoically pressed on and Latvala - who lost time yesterday with brake and overheating problems - is now using the event to try different settings and test tyre wear. He nevertheless passed his Toyota team-mate to take sixth overnight with Hänninen just three-tenths of a second behind.

Dani Sordo is now eighth. After being penalised last night for limping through the closing two super special stages, the decision was overturned today and the Spaniard regained just over two minutes to move up the leaderboard from 12th. He also set two fastest times. Elfyn Evans has also gained positions and from 13th last night is now ninth. He took two stage wins in the short Autódromo stages this evening.

Pontus Tidemand and Eric Camilli have been battling throughout the day, trading fastest times and the lead of the FIA WRC 2 Championship category. Tidemand led into the day but was overhauled within two stages by a charging Camilli, who managed to maintain the advantage until the penultimate super special stage where the Swede inched ahead by sixth-tenths of a second. Tidemand maintained his advantage through the final stage but is just two seconds ahead, setting up a great closing fight for the win.

Stéphane Lefebvre, running sixth earlier in the day, slid off the road and couldn’t re-join and Lorenzo Bertelli rolled his Fiesta. The Italian was able to continue with cosmetic damage but has dropped down the leaderboard.

Rally Mexico – Provisional results after Section 5