Sébastien Ogier has claimed a record-breaking seventh victory at Guanajuato Rally Mexico, the event where it all started back in 2008 when he won the JWRC Category on his debut on a WRC event.
Ogier started the final day with a 35.8-second advantage over his Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans. Ogier eight-time WRC champion took the lead after the first stage of Saturday morning as leader after Friday, Esapekka Lappi, went off in the opening stage.
Ogier’s final day was about managing his gap to second place. After the penultimate stage, he hinted at a Power Stage push for bonus points: “We were managing the tyres a bit in the morning. Let’s see for the Power Stage, we won’t go for the full attack, but we’ll go for a decent drive.”
That ”decent drive” turned out to be a rather good one for Ogier as he took the Power Stage win alongside a record-breaking overall victory in Mexico.
Just 0.4s separates P2 and P3
The battle to watch on Sunday was the scrap for second place. Evans held a 4.3-second margin over Neuville at the start of the day.
Neuville started the day with a stage win in the short Las Dunas Super Special. The Belgian was just 0.2s faster than Evans.
Evans responded in the next 35.63 km long Otates stage by going 1.7 seconds faster than Neuville and increasing the gap to 5.8 seconds.
The scrap continued in the penultimate stage as Neuville went fastest again, this time 3.1 seconds faster than Evans to close the overall gap to 2.7 seconds.
Neuville knew he had to apply pressure to Evans as he had seen the Welshman work on his car: “I continue pushing. We won’t give up. Elfyn has been fixing his car, he touched something & damaged his suspension in the previous stage.”
When asked at stage-end about the problems, Evans’ comments were short: “No, no problems.”
Neither Neuville nor Evans could match Ogier in the Power Stage. Neuville said at the Power Stage finish that he couldn’t do more. It turned out to be enough as Evans completed 3.1 seconds behind Neuville in the final stage and thus lost P2 by 0.4 seconds as Neuville had leapfrogged him.
Kalle Rovanperä and Dani Sordo finished in a distant fourth and fifth while the WRC2 winner in Mexico, Gus Greensmith, was sixth. Emil Lindholm was seventh ahead of Oliver Solberg.
Ott Tänak managed to come back to the top 10 on the final day after his turbo problems in Friday’s opening loop. Kajetan Kajetanowicz closed out the top 10.
Ogier takes championship lead
Ogier retakes the lead of the championship following his win in Mexico, despite not competing in Sweden last time out.
The Toyota driver confirmed that he will be competing in Rally Croatia next month, meaning that he will be first on the road there.
It’s close at the top of the standings, with Neuville just 3 points behind Ogier while Rovanperä is just one point behind Neuville.
Championship leader before the start of Rally Mexico, Ott Tänak, drops to fourth in the standings, he is now 9 points adrift of the top.
In the constructors’ championship, it’s Toyota who extend their lead to 27 points over Hyundai.
Next up on the WRC calendar is Rally Croatia next month from 20 – 23 April.
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WRC Rally Mexico 2023 – Results
| # | Drivers | Car | Time / Diff. to 1st |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ogier / Landais | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 3:16:09.4 |
| 2. | Neuville / Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +27.5 |
| 3. | Evans / Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +27.9 |
| 4. | Rovanperä / Halttunen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +1:55.3 |
| 5. | Sordo / Carrera | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +2:58.8 |
| 6. | Greensmith / Andersson | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | +12:31.5 |
| 7. | Lindholm / Hämäläinen | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | +13:04.4 |
| 8. | Solberg / Edmondson | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | +13:37.7 |
| 9. | Tänak / Järveoja | Ford Puma Rally1 | +15:19.6 |
| 10. | Kajetanowicz / Szczepaniak | Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo | +15:56.6 |
WRC 2023 Drivers’ Championship results – Standings after Round 3/13 [Top 10]
| # | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sébastien Ogier | 56 |
| 2. | Thierry Neuville | 53 |
| 3. | Kalle Rovanperä | 52 |
| 4. | Ott Tänak | 47 |
| 5. | Elfyn Evans | 44 |
| 6. | Craig Breen | 19 |
| 7. | Dani Sordo | 17 |
| 8. | Esapekka Lappi | 15 |
| 9. | Gus Greensmith | 8 |
| 10. | Takamoto Katsuta | 8 |
WRC 2023 Manufacturers’ Championship results – Standings after Round 3/13
| # | Manufacturer | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | 127 |
| 2. | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | 100 |
| 3. | M-Sport Ford WRT | 73 |
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool