RALLY GUANAJUATO MEXICO

(06-09 MARCH 2014)

At the end of another dramatic day of competition in Rally Guanajuato Mexico, Volkswagen Motorsport driver Sébastien Ogier has extended his lead and now has just over a minute in hand to team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala with 80.22 kilometres remaining on Sunday. Third position is held by Hyundai Motorsport’s Thierry Neuville, the marque’s first provisional podium position with the i20 WRC.

 

Today’s route was the longest of the event and took in two identical loops of two stages, followed by the live TV stage and two runs around the short super special stage in Leon. In total, crews had 170.08 competitive kilometres of hot and dusty action in the mountains high above the host town. After the dramas of yesterday there was no respite again this morning, but Ogier has stayed out of trouble to claim victory in each of the mountain stages to extend his lead. Mads Østberg, second last night, hit problems in the opening stage, striking a bank and damaging the suspension. Despite attempting repairs, the Norwegian was forced out of the action. As such, Latvala moved up the leaderboard to become the only driver seemingly capable of challenging Ogier. The Finn has had a trouble-free run today and has a comfortable cushion to third-placed Neuville. The Belgian overhauled Elfyn Evans after the second stage this morning and now sits comfortably in a podium position on only Hyundai’s third WRC event with the i20 WRC.

 

Behind the leading trio, Evans is happy to maintain his pace and fourth position in his first outing in Mexico and he too has a healthy advantage over Martin Prokop. Benito Guerra, Mexico’s WRC hope is sixth, despite missing a braking point and hitting a tree sideways. After a problematic day yesterday, Chris Atkinson holds seventh and Mikko Hirvonen and Kris Meeke are eighth and ninth respectively after retiring from yesterday’s action. Yuriy Protasov rounds off the top 10, the Ukrainian also leading the FIA WRC 2 Championship category. 

 

Leading retirements of the day include Andreas Mikkelsen and Robert Kubica. Both are having a torrid event; having damaged the suspension and retired yesterday, Mikkelsen rolled in the second stage, and Kubica, who rolled in the super special stage last night, put the car on its roof again. He will not re-start tomorrow.

 

Rally Guanajuato Mexico – Unofficial Results after Day 2