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Ogier on verge of record seventh WRC Rally Mexico win

Sebastien Ogier is within touching distance of a record-breaking seventh WRC Rally Mexico victory after establishing a commanding lead on Saturday’s second leg. The eight-time FIA World Rally Champion, who’s elected to run a part-time program with …

Sebastien Ogier is within touching distance of a record-breaking seventh WRC Rally Mexico victory after establishing a commanding lead on Saturday’s second leg.

The eight-time FIA World Rally Champion, who’s elected to run a part-time program with Toyota Gazoo Racing, moved into the lead of the grueling gravel event when Esapekka Lappi — who led Ogier by 5.3s after Friday’s opening leg — crashed his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 into a concrete electricity pole during Saturday’s opening stage stage.

Overnight leader Esapekka Lappi lost his fight with an electricity pole on the opening stage. Game over for the Finn… Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

From that moment on, GR Yaris Rally1 driver Ogier never looked back. Armed with an advantage of almost half a minute over Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans at the day’s midpoint, the 39-year-old Frenchman was in no mood to compromise.

He managed his speed — and his hard compound Pirelli tires — flawlessly over the afternoon’s stages, taking a dominant win on El Mosquito 2 to end the day 35.8s clear of the field.

Victory on the third round of the championship would be particularly special for Ogier, since Mexico was where he made his WRC debut back in 2008. A win on Sunday would also make it two wins from two 2023 starts for Ogier, after he dominated January’s season-opening Monte Carlo Rally.

“I think this lead is good,” said Ogier. “It’s been another strong day for me. We had a little bit of a different approach after Esapekka went off in the first stage this morning. We didn’t need to go for too much risk, but still we managed to set some good times and increase our lead. Tomorrow is still long which means we cannot afford to relax.”

Evans’ position in second overall was much less secure, thanks to a charging Thierry Neuville breathing down his neck. The Belgian Hyundai driver reeled in his rival, grabbing four fastest times to trail the Welshman’s Yaris by just 4.3s heading into Sunday’s four-stage final leg.

A run of fastest times have put Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville within striking distance of second place. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Toyota’s reigning WRC champ, Kalle Rovanpera, found himself sitting almost one minute adrift of Neuville in fourth overall. A stall in the Derramadero 2 stage cost the 22-year-old Finn a handful of seconds, but thanks to a hefty 47.2s gap to Dani Sordo behind, he had no reason to be alarmed.

Sordo, a lonely fifth, was unwilling to take any unnecessary risks. The Spaniard focused instead on testing new setups throughout the day, but despite the ongoing tweaks he still found it difficult to keep the rear end of his Hyundai under control in the loose conditions.

WRC points leader Ott Tanak recovered from Friday morning’s turbo failure to haul his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally 1 back up to 11th overall. Pierre-Louis Loubet, driving a similar car, retired for the second time in as many days with damaged rear suspension in the afternoon’s third stage.

Such was the high rate of the attrition among the Rally1 entries that cars from international rallying’s second tier, WRC2, filled out the rest of the top 10 behind Sordo and ahead of Tanak.

Gus Greensmith preserved his lead at the front of the WRC2 pack on a shortened Saturday leg. The WRC2 crews waited until the final stage of the morning loop for their day to get fully underway after the opener was red-flagged following Lappi’s altercation with the power pole. As a result, all WRC2 crews were redirected to the beginning of the morning’s fourth stage, Las Dunas Super Special 2.

Despite the delayed start, there was some good news for Greensmith when the Skoda Fabia RS driver saw his lead extended from 8.5s to 18.5s as a result of his closest rival, M-Sport Ford Fiesta pilot Adrien Fourmaux, starting the leg with a 10s time penalty for a late check in the day before.

Greensmith could afford to relax and opted to trial different setups on his new car during the afternoon. While the changes didn’t have the impact he’d hoped for, he still managed to strengthen his advantage over Fourmaux, ending the day 31.6s in front going into Sunday’s four-stage finale.

Gus Greensmith extended his WRC2 lead after a time penalty for rival Adrien Fourmaux. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Sunday may be shorter than Saturday’s leg, but it’s set to be no less challenging. It opens with another blast through Las Dunas, which is followed by Otates — the longest stage of the rally at a daunting 22.14 miles. San Diego is up next, before the event ends with the bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage in 5.95-mile El Brinco stage.

WRC Rally Mexico, leading positions after Day Two, SS19
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h35m37.6s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +35.8s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +40.1s
4 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m34.0s
5 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m21.2s
6 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson ((Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +10m33.4s
7 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Fiesta MkII – WRC2) +11m05.0s
8 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hamalainen (Skoda Fabia Evo – WRC2) +11m11.0s
9 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +11m52.2s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia Evo – WRC2) +12m54.3s

Check out WRC.com, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a WRC+ All Live subscription to watch all stages of every rally live and on demand, whenever and wherever.

Flawless Lappi edges Ogier in WRC Rally Mexico’s dramatic day one

Esapekka Lappi put in a faultless performance in the scorching heat and power-sapping altitude of WRC Rally Mexico to fend off six-time winner Sebastien Ogier during Friday’s dramatic opening leg. Despite several of the FIA World Rally …

Esapekka Lappi put in a faultless performance in the scorching heat and power-sapping altitude of WRC Rally Mexico to fend off six-time winner Sebastien Ogier during Friday’s dramatic opening leg.

Despite several of the FIA World Rally Championship’s leading crews running into trouble on the grueling, dust-clogged stages in the mountains around Leon, Hyundai driver Lappi (above) steered clear of drama to head Ogier’s Toyota on the first gravel round of the season.

Lappi’s i20 N Rally1 led from the outset after grabbing the top spot in the morning’s opener. But eight-time WRC champ Ogier, who’s chosen to run only a limited program of rallies with Toyota, stayed right on his tail in his GR Yaris Rally1, with the duo exchanging times for much of the day.

But it was Lappi’s impressive performances in the afternoon’s closing run of special stages which made all the difference. Back-to-back stage wins in Las Minas and Las Dunas gave the Finn some much-needed breathing space and, while Ogier clawed back some time in the Distrito Leon super special, 5.3s split the pair at close of play.

Sebastien Ogier is seeking a seventh Rally Mexico win, but trails Esapekka Lappi after day one.

“I am a bit surprised, but I take it as it is,” Lappi said at day’s end. “This was probably one of the best days of my rallying career.

“I always hoped that I could fight at the top, but to be leading and fighting against Seb was never in my mind. I didn’t really think about how this day would go, but I was just confident that our pace would be good.”

Elfyn Evans filled the final podium spot, finishing 24.8s behind his Toyota GR Yaris teammate, Ogier. As temperatures neared 85 degrees F and sections on some stages reached 9,000ft in altitude, it was a trying day for crews and cars alike, with the thin air sapping engine power by as much as 20 percent. But the Welshman’s struggles were limited to a lack of traction on some of the tests.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was hampered by hybrid unit failure in the morning, followed by a seized rear-right damper and damaged driveshaft boot in the afternoon. He pressed on regardless, reaching the overnight halt just 9.7s adrift of the podium in his i20 N.

Starting second on the road, reigning WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera was severely affected by the loose conditions – the early runners effectively road sweepers for the cars starting further down the running order. As a result, the Yaris driver lost time in almost every test, ending the day fifth and a sizable 19.9s down on Neuville.

Meanwhile, Hyundai’s Dani Sordo leaked around a minute when he limped through the day’s fifth test with left-rear tire damage, dropping from fourth to sixth overall.

Championship leader Ott Tanak languishes more than 14 minutes back from the lead after crawling through the morning loop with turbocharger failure and starting first on the road – a double whammy of challenges. In fact, it was a disastrous day for the Estonian’s M-Sport Ford team all around, as both teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet and privateer entry Jourdan Serderidis retired their Pumas in the opening stage.

Starting first on the road was bad enough, but a turbo issue destroyed Ott Tanak’s chances.

In WRC2, Gus Greensmith wasted no time in getting to grips with his all-new Skoda Fabia RS, building an 8.5s advantage over former teammate Adrien Fourmaux.

Despite having limited testing time prior to the event, Greensmith appeared comfortable with his Toksport-prepared machine. He consistently posted top-three stage times throughout the morning and reached the mid-leg service just 3.0s down on overnight leader Emil Lindholm’s Skoda Fabia Evo.

That put Greensmith in prime position to pounce in the afternoon when Lindholm dropped 14s on the second passage of the iconic El Chocolate stage, demoting the Finn four positions and leaving Greensmith as the WRC2 leader, where he remained for the rest of the day.

“The morning was a little bit tricky because the tires were overheating, but I knew that once we put the hard tires on I could go much quicker,” said Greensmith, who’s dropped down to the WRC2 class after a frustrating season with M-Sport Ford’s Rally1 Puma in 2022. “It’s a nice lead, but not a massive one. It’s all about managing risks and the pace here, and trying to be tidy.”

Gus Greensmith’s first rally in a WRC2-spec Skoda Fabia RS is working out so far…

Lindholm’s demotion lifted Adrien Fourmaux to second in his Ford Fiesta Rally2. The Frenchman – also regrouping in WRC2 after a trying campaign in an M-Sport Ford Puma last season – is within striking distance of former teammate Greensmith, setting up an exciting second day.

Saturday’s leg is the longest of the event and features nine more challenging stages adding up to 78.62 competitive miles.

WRC Rally Mexico, leading positions after Day One, SS10
1 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h25m12.0s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +5.3s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +30.1s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +39.8s
5 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +59.7s
6 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m27.2s
7 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson ((Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +3m50.1s
8 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Fiesta MkII – WRC2) +3m58.6s

Check out WRC.com, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a WRC+ All Live subscription to watch all stages of every rally live and on demand, whenever and wherever.

WRC leader Tanak faces tough test on Rally Mexico gravel

The heat, dust and power-sapping altitude of Rally Mexico provide a tough challenge for the WRC’s first pure gravel rally of 2023. Back on the calendar for the first time since 2020, the FIA World Rally Championship’s third round could see …

The heat, dust and power-sapping altitude of Rally Mexico provide a tough challenge for the WRC’s first pure gravel rally of 2023.

Back on the calendar for the first time since 2020, the FIA World Rally Championship’s third round could see temperatures hitting 85 degrees F — and considerably hotter in the cars — as M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak attempts to increase his WRC points lead, despite facing the worst of the road conditions in Friday’s first full day of stages.

The Estonian grabbed the championship lead with victory on the ice and snow of Sweden last time out, but must pay his dues in the mountains around Leon when he opens the road in his hybrid Puma Rally1 on stages coated in dry and slippery gravel. Those tracks become cleaner and faster with each car that passes as the loose dirt is swept aside.

Tanak, a two-time Rally Mexico runner-up, will be praying for rain to bind the loose gravel together, but his wish will likely be in vain as the event is forecast to have sunny skies through to the finish on Sunday afternoon.

“I’m not sure I’m that good a (rain) dancer to get the rain in a place where it almost never rains!” joked the 2019 WRC champ, who’s joined by factory teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet and privateer Jourdan Serderidis in a three-car M-Sport attack.

This will be only Tanak’s third WRC start since joining M-Sport Ford from Hyundai this season, and despite hoping for a strong result, he knows Mexico will be a learning curve.

“During testing it was my very first time on gravel in the Puma Rally1 and it was very important to discover as much as possible,” he said. “The team is working hard to keep improving, but to really understand where we are now, we need to do a gravel rally first.”

Second and third in the points, and hence starting second and third on the road behind Tanak, Toyota’s reigning WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville are also likely to struggle on Friday. But one driver who’s ready to take advantage is Rovanpera’s teammate Sebastien Ogier, a six-time Mexico winner who starts fifth in his GR Yaris Rally1.

Eight-time WRC champ Ogier has chosen a part-time program for the Japanese marque and returns to action for the first time since his season-opening Monte Carlo Rally win in January.

“When I knew that Mexico was coming back, I had to mark it in my calendar as an event that would be nice to do again,” said the Frenchman. “It’s where everything started for me in the WRC, as it’s actually where I made my debut in 2008.”

Ogier’s had this one marked on his calendar for a while…which could be bad news for everyone else. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT photo

Elfyn Evans, fourth in the WRC standings, and Takamoto Katsuta complete Toyota Gazoo Racing’s four-car fleet — although Katsuta won’t score manufacturers’ championship points with Ogier in attendance this week.

Dani Sordo joins Neuville and Esapekka Lappi in a three-strong Hyundai i20 N lineup and will be the last of the frontrunners onto the road. The Spaniard will be keen to make the most of the extra grip to put himself in a strong position for the last two legs, when competitors start in reverse order of classification.

“If we get it right, we believe we can be in the battle for victory, but we want to be on the podium as a minimum,” said Sordo.

Lappi starts sixth on the road in Friday’s first leg, and he can’t be ruled out for a strong result after matching fellow Finn Rovanpera’s time in Thursday morning’s pre-rally Shakedown stage. Ogier, Sordo and Evans completed the top five on a 3.42-mile test stage that each driver is allowed to complete multiple times.

The rally route climbs to almost 9,000 feet above sea level, where engines traditionally struggle to breathe in the thinner air and lose around 20 percent of their power. However, the headlining Rally1 cars’ hybrid specification includes a battery-powered boost that’s less impacted by the thinner air, which could make this the fastest ever Rally Mexico.

The rally starts tonight (Thursday) with two short street stages through Guanajuato’s former mining tunnels. Three more days of action follow in the Sierra de Lobos and Sierra de Guanajuato mountains, before Sunday afternoon’s finish in Leon after 23 stages covering a total of 198.98 competitive miles.

WRC’s U.S. return moves closer with Tennessee test events

The FIA World Rally Championship’s first American round since 1988 has moved a significant step closer, with dry-run events for a Tennessee-based WRC return set for this year. Chattanooga, Tenn., will host Rally Tennessee, a two-part series that …

The FIA World Rally Championship’s first American round since 1988 has moved a significant step closer, with dry-run events for a Tennessee-based WRC return set for this year.

Chattanooga, Tenn., will host Rally Tennessee, a two-part series that includes a demonstration event on April 7-8 and a test event scheduled for September.

If successful, both Rally Tennessee dry-runs will position Chattanooga and southeastern Tennessee as the potential location for the WRC’s first American round since the Washington-based Olympus Rally hosted three events in 1986-’88. And with the WRC and its participating manufacturers keen to add the U.S. market to the calendar, that could be as soon as 2024.

The WRC’s last U.S. event was the 1988 Olympus Rally, won by Lancia’s Miki Biasion. Motorsport Images

The demonstration and test events will use closed forest roads in the Cherokee National Forest for the timed special stages, as well as various locations in Chattanooga that would host the event’s service park and logistical hub, and the local highway system for transit to and from the stages.

The format of each will provide event organizers and WRC Promoter feedback on the sporting and organizational aspects of a project that has already been more than 18 months in consultation and planning with local, regional, and international partners.

Already involved in the project are OtherSport LLC, Chattanooga Tourism Co., American Rally Association (ARA), and partners throughout Tennessee’s Hamilton, Bradley, and Polk counties, as well as WRC Promoter.

Chattanooga is set to host the WRC potential U.S. return.

“A few components that enticed event organizers included Chattanooga’s outdoor assets, quality of racing roads, and the ability to fulfill logistic needs,” said a statement from the Chattanooga Tourism Co., adding: “Hosting a WRC event is expected to have an economic impact of $34 million, the largest impact for any event supported by the Tourism Co.”

WRC Promoter’s director of events Simon Larkin told Dirtfish.com: “We welcome the announcement coming out of Chattanooga today. WRC Promoter has been interested in a return to the USA, a country that was an occasional host to WRC events between 1973 and 1988.

“We are currently negotiating with a consortium that we believe has all the necessary ingredients to bring the WRC back to the USA and will make further announcements in conjunction with the FIA, when details and timelines can be confirmed.”