Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia claimed a dominant victory in Rally Guanajuato Mexico today, the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship. The French duo won by more than three minutes to take the second victory for the Volkswagen Polo R WRC in its debut year in the Championship. Second position was taken by Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen in the Citroën DS3 WRC and Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul took their first-ever WRC podium in the Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

 

The final day of competition in Rally Mexico covered just three stages but opened with the massive 54.85 kilometre Guanajuatito stage. This was immediately followed by the 21.14 kilometre Power Stage, where Ogier, Mads Østberg and Jari-Matti Latvala collected the additional points for being the fastest three drivers through this single stage. The event then concluded with a run around the final super special stage on the outskirts of Leon.

 

Ogier was able to cruise to the finish, such was his overnight advantage and he finished second to Hirvonen in the first long stage. He then took victory in the Power Stage and the super special to win by three minutes 28.9 seconds. The fight for second position between Hirvonen and Neuville was set to be the thriller of the day but, pushing hard, Neuville went off the road in the opening stage which secured Hirvonen second. Dani Sordo and Nasser Al-Attiyah claimed fourth and fifth respectively and Chris Atkinson climbed into the top six in his first WRC event this year.

 

The FIA World Rally Championship contenders now head back to Europe for the first non-specialised rally of the season, the all-gravel Rally de Portugal (11-14 April).

 

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