The third event of the World Rally Championship was the Mexico Rally. It is driven at high altitudes, which put extreme strain on the engines and test the physical readiness of the pilots, and on unpaved roads, which in turn thoroughly test the resistance of the chassis and the pilots' abilities. But the competition started with two special sections already on Thursday evening. The first one was won by Thierry Neuville with a Hyundai i20 N WRC, but the second one was enjoyed by Sébastien Ogier with a Volkswagen Polo R WRC and he also took the lead of the entire competition.
But Friday morning was kind to Kris Meek with the Citroën DS3 WRC and he briefly moved up to third place. The same test was a temporary end for Otto Tänak , who fell into a water tank with his Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Unfortunately, Meeke crashed in the next test. The same test became fatal for Robert Kubica and Hayden Paddon . Once again, Ogier reigned, who already had a very decent lead over Neuville. Ogier's colleague Jari-Matti Latvala was third, Mads Ostberg fourth with another Citroën and Andreas Mikkelsen fifth with the last Volkswagen.
In the fifth test, Neuville won and slightly pulled Ogier , but he immediately returned it with interest. However, the Czech Martin Prokop was second by only one tenth of a second in this test. The next test fell to Latvala , but Ogier continued to increase his lead over Neuville. But the next test brought the Belgian a puncture and a subsequent accident with the car flipping onto its roof. For Ogier, Latvala and Ostberg jumped onto the box. Behind them was Mikkelsen , Elfyn Evans , Dani Sordo and Prokop. Then Yuri Protasov with Fiesta RRC, who led WRC2 ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah with Fiesta R5, was moving in the absolute order.
Tänak's Fiesta managed to be put back into the race on Saturday after being fished out and de-mudded, but the electrician terminated its service. Ogier won the first two tests of the day, and in the second he lost Latvala , who broke the rear wheel. Ostberg , Mikkelsen , Evans , Sordo and Prokop became world champions . In addition, Sorda suffered from a puncture, so Prokop came close to him in the intermediate evaluation. But Protasov failed, so Al-Attiyah took the lead in WRC2. Behind him, the lower category was occupied by Fuchs , Ketomaa and Al-Kuwari .
On Sunday, only the last three tests were run, with the last test traditionally being the Power Stage . Ostberg won the longest test of the day, but only cut two seconds off Ogier 's lead. The overall order of the first places did not change after the opening tests of the day. Ogier also won the last test and added three more points to his account. Mikkelsen was second on the Power Stage, but he still did not surpass Ostberg in the overall standings. Evans , Sordo and Prokop finished behind them. WRC2 was won by Al-Attiyah , who was seventh overall. Thanks to the third place from the last stage, Neuville managed to overtake Fuchs and Ketomaau in eighth position.
Photo: Redbull, Roadandtrack, Autosport, WRC, Crash, Rallyereport, Bybillwood
