Ogier claims the hat-trick

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Ogier claims the hat-trick

09.03.15

Reigning FIA World Rally Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia today claimed their third consecutive victory in Rally Guanajuato Mexico, as well as racking up a hat-trick of wins at the start of the 2015 season. The French duo has not put a foot wrong all weekend and were all-but assured of victory once team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala fell out of contention. The battle for second position raged over the closing stages but Mads Østberg and Jonas Andersson managed to hold off Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Floene to claim second and third respectively.

In the FIA World Rally Championship, Ogier has once again extended his advantage and now takes a 34 point advantage over Mikkelsen with Thierry Neuville the nearest non-Volkswagen challenger in third. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Volkswagen Motorsport has a 24 point lead over Hyundai Motorsport.

Today’s route took in just three stages and 75.66 competitive kilometres but the day kicked off with the mammoth 55.82 kilometre Guanajuatito stage before closing with the all-important Power Stage, where Ogier, Mikkelsen and Neuville claimed more Championship points. Such was Ogier’s overnight lead, the Frenchman was able to control his pace and cruise to an impressive win on an event where running first on the road as Championship leader was considered to be insurmountable. Mads Østberg claimed victory in the long opening stage, narrowly extending his advantage over Mikkelsen to eight seconds, and managed to hold off his fellow countryman through to the finish, aided by a spin by Mikkelsen. Elfyn Evans equalled his career-best result of fourth overall and Dani Sordo finished fifth, despite brake problems this morning. Martin Prokop rounded off the top six, but he went off the road in the second stage after hitting a stone and sustaining a puncture.

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel finished seventh overall and more importantly took the win in the FIA WRC 2 Championship category. All the leading Rally 2 contenders made it through the day, with the exception of Lorenzo Bertelli who took a wheel off in the first stage. Neuville finished eighth, local hero Benito Guerra 12th and Jari-Matti Latvala, Kris Meeke, Hayden Paddon and Robert Kubica all claimed positions inside the top 20. Remarkably, Ott Tanak re-joined once again this morning and powered his Fiesta RS WRC through all the stages. He finished 22nd after ending up in a lake on Friday morning!

The fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to South America for Rally Argentina (23-26 April).

Rally Guanajuato Mexico – Final Unofficial Results (subject to scrutineering)

1. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia	Volkswagen Polo R WRC	4hr 19min 13.4sec
2. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson	DS 3 WRC	4hr 20min 32.2sec
3. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene	Volkswagen Polo R WRC	4hr 20min 38.5sec
4. Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4hr 22min 53.6sec
5. Dani Sordo/Marc Marti	Hyundai i20 WRC	4hr 24min 15.2sec
6. Martin Prokop/Jan Tomanek	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4hr 25min 49.5sec
7. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Matthieu Baumel	Ford Fiesta RRC	4hr 34min 06.1sec
8. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 WRC	4hr 41min 56.7sec
9. Nicolas Fuchs/Fernando Musano	Ford Fiesta R5	4hr 42min 02.4sec
10. Jari Ketomaa/Kaj Lindstrom	Ford Fiesta R5	4hr 42min 23.6sec

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 3 of 13 rounds)

Sébastien Ogier (FRA)	81 points
Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)	47 points
Thierry Neuville (BEL)	35 points
Mads Østberg (NOR)	32 points
Elfyn Evans (GBR)	26 points
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)	19 points
Dani Sordo (ESP)	18 points
Martin Prokop (CZE)	14 points
Ott Tanak (EST)	12 points
Hayden Paddon (NZL)	10 points
Kris Meeke (GBR)	10 points
Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)	6 points
Sébastien Loeb (FRA)	6 points
Yurii Protasov (UKR)	2 points
Nicolas Fuchs (PER)	2 points
Jari Ketomaa (FIN)	1 point

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 3 of 13 rounds)

Volkswagen Motorsport	99 points
Hyundai Motorsport	75 points
M-Sport World Rally Team	48 points
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team	42 points
Jipocar Czech National Team	20 points
Volkswagen Motorsport II	15 points
Hyundai Motorsport N	3 points
FWRT srl	1 point

Ogier claims the hat-trick

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