Ott Tanak – Syndication Server

Neuville’s WRC title celebrations on hold as Tanak wins Central European Rally

The fight for the FIA World Rally Championship title is set to go down to the wire after Hyundai’s Ott Tanak (above) took a dramatic victory on the Central European Rally on Sunday. On a weekend when his teammate Thierry Neuville looked primed to …

The fight for the FIA World Rally Championship title is set to go down to the wire after Hyundai’s Ott Tanak (above) took a dramatic victory on the Central European Rally on Sunday.

On a weekend when his teammate Thierry Neuville looked primed to clinch his first WRC crown, Tanak secured the win by 7.0s after eight-time WRC champ Sebastien Ogier crashed his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 on a left-hand corner in the penultimate stage. Overnight leader Ogier had been trailing the Estonian by just 1.5s at the time of his incident.

Tanak’s win, his second of the year, has set up an-all Hyundai final-round showdown with Neuville at next month’s season-closing Rally Japan.

Neuville, a five-time WRC title runner-up, had been on course to finally secure his first drivers’ crown before a costly spin in his Hyundai i20 N Hybrid1 on Saturday morning cost him the rally lead. He ended Sunday’s final leg in third place, 25.8s behind second-placed GR Yaris driver Elfyn Evans, with his championship lead over Tanak cut from 29 to 25 points and a maximum of 30 points on offer in Japan.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville came into the weekend with aspirations to clinch his first WRC title, but Ott Tanak’s win means it’s going down to the wire. McKlein/Motorsport Images

Despite Ogier’s misfortune, strong Super Sunday performances from his Toyota teammates Evans and Takamoto Katsuta helped trim Hyundai’s advantage in the WRC manufacturers’ championship to 15 points. Katsuta was the fastest driver on the final day, including the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage, ensuring a tense finale in Japan where, for the first time since 2021, both the WRC drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles will be decided at the season-closer.

Neuville, Ogier, and Tanak all took turns at leading the rally, which kicked off in Prague on Thursday evening and featured an array of slippery, all-asphalt stages spread across the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany. Tanak struggled with his i20 N’s setup on Friday morning and initially languished in fifth place, but his pace improved as the event progressed, culminating in a 21st career victory and an outside shot at a second crown for the 2019 WRC champ.

“Let’s see for the championship,” said a cautious Tanak. “Obviously, with what happened to Seb…it is always difficult to fight a friend and then something like this happens, so it is difficult to find feelings. Everything changed, especially in the manufacturers’ championship. We took care to have a clean [final] stage and bring the points home.”

It might be a long shot, but Ott Tanak’s second win of the season sees the Hyundai driver (at right, above, with co-driver Martin Jarveoja) heading to Japan with a chance of earning a second WRC title. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Katsuta’s strong Sunday run, combined with Ogier’s exit, saw him finish fourth overall, albeit 41.2s behind Neuville. It was a solid finish for the Japanese runner and bodes well for his home event next month – another all-asphalt affair.

Beyond the Hyundai/Toyota lead fight, Gregoire Munster climbed to fifth in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1, equaling his career-best result after Toyota rising star Sami Pajari rolled his GR Yaris on Sunday’s opening stage – a frustrating end to his first asphalt event in a Rally1 car.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Nikolay Gryazin stormed through Sunday’s final leg to secure a commanding class victory, winning by a margin of 2m23.9s over the next driver registered for WRC2 points, Filip Mares.

The Citroen C3 Rally2 driver seized the lead on the rally’s second stage and never surrendered it, maintaining his position at the top throughout the tri-nation fixture. Gryazin racked up more than 10 fastest stage times in WRC2 over the course of the event and built a substantial advantage by Saturday evening, which he further extended over the closing stages.

But while Gryazin celebrated, his DG Sport Competition teammate, Yohan Rossel, endured a more difficult weekend.

The Frenchman needed to win the class to keep his WRC2 championship hopes alive, but ultimately languished more than 15 minutes back from the lead after two costly off-road excursions. His result means that Sami Pajari and Oliver Solberg – neither of whom were scoring points this week, although Solberg did start the event to gain asphalt experience and finished second-highest Rally2 car – are now the only drivers in line for the WRC2 crown.

Current WRC2 points leader Solberg has completed his seven points-scoring events and must now wait to see if Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 driver Pajari can wrest the title from him on the Finn’s seventh and final scoring round in Japan.

Citroen C3 driver Nikolay Gryazin took a healthy WRC2 class lead into Sunday’s closing stages, but still pushed on to increase his final winning margin. McKlein/Motorsport Images

The 13th and final round of the 2024 WRC season, Rally Japan, takes place on the tight, twisting, leaf-strewn roads around Aichi, Nov. 21-24. And although Neuville remains the firm favorite to land that elusive first WRC title, Tanak’s late-season surge says this might not be over yet.

WRC Central European Rally, final positions after Leg Three, SS18
1 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 2h37m34.6s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +7.0s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +39.8s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m21.0s
5 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m41.9s
6 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2 winner) +9m17.6s
7 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 – non-points) +9m34.1s
8 Filip Mares/Radovan Bucha (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +11m41.5s
9 Miko Marczyk/Szymon Gospodarczyk (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +12m10.6s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +12m20.3s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 12 of 13 rounds
1 Neuville 222 points
2 Tanak 196
3 Evans 179
4 Sebastien Ogier 166
5 Adrien Fourmaux 141

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 12 of 13 rounds
1 Hyundai Motorsport 519 points
2 Toyota Gazoo Racing 498
3 M-Sport Ford 260

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

Tanak avoids Friday dramas to lead a rough, tough WRC Acropolis Rally

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak passed Sebastien Ogier’s ailing Toyota to lead Acropolis Rally Greece at the end of Friday’s opening leg, capping an incident-filled day that could significantly impact this year’s FIA World Rally Championship title race. …

Greece’s notoriously rugged gravel roads lived up to their punishing reputation, with four of the championship’s top five drivers encountering trouble and dropping significant time. But Tanak (above) guided his i20 N Rally1 through the chaos unscathed, the Estonian topping a commanding Hyundai 1-2-3 overnight.

Eight-time WRC champ Ogier, who started the rally second in championship points, held an 11.7s lead over Tanak when M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux retired from second overall due to a broken steering arm on the day’s fourth stage. But disaster struck Ogier late in the day when a turbocharger issue on his GR Yaris Rally1 cost the Frenchman, whose limited 2024 schedule has rapidly transformed into a full-on title attack, around two-and-a-half minutes and relegated him to fourth.

Ogier’s misfortune compounded a disastrous day for the Toyota Gazoo Racing factory squad. Teammate Elfyn Evans dropped nearly nine minutes earlier in the day with a similar turbo issue, while Takamoto Katsuta retired on the morning’s final stage with rear suspension damage after mishearing a pacenote from co-driver Aaron Johnston.

Sebastien Ogier’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 had been leading on the rough Greek stages, until a turbo issue dropped him down the order.

Explaining the situation, Toyota technical director Tom Fowler said: “It looks like Seb has lost the boost pressure from the turbocharger. We had Elfyn’s car this morning with the same symptoms.

“It’s a huge disappointment because, clearly, it’s another rally after Finland where we have really strong performance in the car. In Finland we didn’t capitalize on that, and it looks like here, again, we’re not going to capitalize on the potential performance that both the car and the drivers have.”

In contrast, Hyundai celebrated as Tanak led his i20 N Rally1-driving teammates Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville by 21.8 and 23.4s respectively at the overnight halt. As it stands, the Korean marque is poised to significantly extend its advantage in the WRC manufacturers’ championship.

“We’ve got to be thankful for a trouble-free day. It’s been tough with the heat and the rough conditions,” said Tanak, who currently sits third in the WRC drivers’ standings. “It’s been a great day for Hyundai, but we all know there’s more to come.”

Sordo, making his first appearance since Rally Italy Sardinia in June, faced challenges of his own, managing a faulty hybrid unit throughout much of the afternoon. Current WRC points leader Neuville also encountered issues, nursing an engine problem in the morning that left his car running on reduced power, but crucially headed title rival Ogier by 1m41.2s overnight.

Elsewhere among the headlining Rally 1 crews, M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster was forced to stop for a wheel change on the day’s sixth and final stage. He now sits seventh overall, but had impressed with his pace and consistency prior to the late mishap.

M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster held a solid top-five spot until picking up a puncture on the day’s final stage. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Estonia’s Robert Virves vaulted from fourth to first on the day’s final stage, snatching the lead after heartbreak struck Yohan Rossel.

Citroen C3 driver Rossel dominated the day’s early stages, posting fastest class times on the first five tests and building a commanding 46.5s lead over his closest WRC2 rival. However, his fortunes took a dramatic turn on the closing 14.52-mile Tarzan test when he was forced to stop seven miles in to change a wheel. He lost more than two minutes and tumbled to sixth in the standings.

“The only positive is we’ll have a better road position tomorrow,” said Rossel. “It’s tough because we gave everything, but it’s the same for some of the others, and there’s still a long way to go.”

Skoda Fabia RS driver Virves had been lying fourth before the final stage, but a sensational time – 11.1s faster than anyone else – propelled him into the overnight lead, just 1.5s ahead of Sami Pajari in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.

Skoda Fabia RS driver Robert Virves climbed from fourth in WRC2 to leading the class after a scorching time on Friday’s final stage. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Saturday’s second leg promises more challenges as the rough stuff continues. Six special stages add up to 72.22 competitive miles on the unforgiving roads south of Lamia.

WRC Rally Acropolis Greece, positions after Leg One, SS6
1 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h40m16.9s
2 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +21.8s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +45.2s
4 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m26.4s
5 Robert Virves/Aleks Lesk (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +3m10.9s
6 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +3m12.4s
7 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m08.4s
8 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +4m09.0s
9 Fabrizio Zaldivar/Marcelo der Ohannesian (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +4m19.7s
10 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +4m22.5s

Tanak grabs shock WRC Rally Italy Sardinia victory after late Ogier puncture

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak claimed a shock WRC Rally Italy Sardinia victory on Sunday afternoon after late agony for long-time leader Sebastien Ogier. Tanak (above) celebrated his first win since rejoining Hyundai for 2024 when a damaged tire in the …

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak claimed a shock WRC Rally Italy Sardinia victory on Sunday afternoon after late agony for long-time leader Sebastien Ogier.

Tanak (above) celebrated his first win since rejoining Hyundai for 2024 when a damaged tire in the rally-closing Wolf Power Stage denied Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Ogier a third consecutive FIA World Rally Championship victory.

Having traded blows with Tanak early in the ultra-rough gravel event, eight-time WRC champ Ogier had led since Saturday afternoon in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. The Frenchman, who’s running only a part-time WRC program this season, began the final 4.41-mile Sassari-Argenteria 2 stage with a seemingly comfortable 6.2s advantage, but ended 0.2s behind Tanak’s Hyundai i20 N Rally1 after disaster unfolded in the closing miles.

Sebastien Ogier looked set for a third consecutive WRC rally win until drama on the very last stage… Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

The winning margin is the joint-closest in WRC history — matching the result of Rally Jordan in 2011. Back then, it was Ogier taking the victory, holding off his now-Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala.

Tanak, whose last WRC win came in Chile last year with M-Sport Ford, was humble in victory. He faced similar heartbreak on the very same stage in his 2019 WRC title season, when a power steering issue cost him a certain win.

“For the emotion it’s good, but obviously I am very sorry for Seb,” said the Estonian. “To lose a win like this is cruel and I’ve been in exactly the same position myself a couple of years ago.”

Ott Tanak grabbed the top step of the podium on the final stage, beating Sebastien Ogier by a miniscule and record-equaling 0.2s margin. Toyota GAZOO Racing WRT photo

Dani Sordo made it two Hyundais in the top three, helping the Korean manufacturer to remain in the lead of the manufacturers’ championship by eight points over Toyota. The 41-year-old Spaniard was initially out of sorts on only his second WRC start of the season, but steadily climbed the order as drivers ahead of him suffered problems.

One of those drivers was his teammate, Thierry Neuville, whose podium bid went awry when he slid off the road on Saturday morning. The Belgian’s consolation was that, having restarted for the final leg — albeit well out of the overall top 10 — he claimed the maximum 12 points from Super Sunday to retain his WRC driver’s championship lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.

Evans never really got to grips with his GR Yaris on the rough gravel roads, but although he ended almost three minutes back from the lead in fourth, the Welshman did succeed in reducing Neuville’s buffer from 24 to 16 points.

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans (above) endured a lackluster Rally Italy, but still closed the gap to Thierry Neuville in the WRC standings. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Consistency rewarded Puma Rally1 youngster Gregoire Munster with a fifth-place finish. His M-Sport Ford teammate Adrien Fourmaux had run as high as third early on, but retired in Friday’s final stage with an electrical fault.

Such was the level of attrition that WRC2 machinery filled the remaining top-10 positions, with Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 driver Sami Pajari claiming sixth overall and the class win in international rallying’s second tier.

Pajari returned to the top step of the WRC2 podium for the first time since last year’s Rally Finland, catapulting from 11th to fourth in the overall class points.

The 22-year-old Finn had led WRC2 since putting on an early charge on Friday’s short, but rough opening leg and was able to play it safe during Sunday’s four stages to win by a comfortable 32.3s. He headed home WRC2 points leader Yohan Rossel’s Citroen C3, who’d fallen to 15^th in class on Friday’s opening leg, but charged back to second with a string of consecutive stage wins.

Jan Solans took the final WRC2 podium spot in another GR Yaris, heading home the Skoda Fabia RS machines of Martin Prokop and Kajetan Kajetanowicz that completed the class top five.

Sami Pajari took his first WRC2 win since last year’s Rally Finland. It was the first win in the class for Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally2. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Next time out, the speeds rise as the WRC heads to Rally Poland. The gravel event returns to the series for the first time since 2017, taking in the super-fast stages around Mikolajki, June 27-30.

WRC Rally Italy Sardinia, final positions after Leg Three, SS16
1 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 3h06m05.6s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +0.2s
3 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m25.8s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m37.8s
5 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +6m42.9s
6 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 winner) +7m13.4s
7 Yohan Rossel/Benajmin Boulloud (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +7m45.7s
8 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +7m52.7s
9 Martin Prokop/Michal Ernst (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +10m05.4s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +10m09.3s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 6 rounds
1 Thierry Neuville 122 points
2 Tanak 104
3 Evans 104
4 Ogier 92
5 Adrien Fourmaux 74

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 6 rounds
1 Hyundai Motorsport 269 points
2 Toyota Gazoo Racing 256
3 M-Sport Ford 131

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

Tanak wins WRC Rally Chile, but Toyota clinches manufacturers’ crown

M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja became WRC Rally Chile winners for the second time on Sunday, while rival team Toyota Gazoo Racing secured the manufacturers’ championship crown. Tanak, driving a Ford Puma Rally1, seized the …

Tanak, driving a Ford Puma Rally1, seized the lead of the all-gravel South American event on Friday’s opening leg and, thanks to clever tire compound choices, built a commanding buffer which he carried through to Sunday’s short final leg.

It was Tanak’s second win of the 2023 season, the first coming on the ice and snow of the Swedish Rally, and it marks the end of a frustrating run of DNFs and niggling problems for the Estonian ace in recent events.

M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja celebrate their second WRC win of 2023.

Tanak went into the final day’s four special stages with a lead of 58.3s and played it relatively safe to end the rally with a 42.1s winning margin. But the focus was on the battle for second as Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen led teammate Thierry Neuville by 13.9s, with the team ruling out using team orders to calm their dual.

Neuville and Suninen were the two fastest drivers on both of Sunday morning’s stages, and the gap between them shrank to just 6.7s. It was Neuville who was fastest again on the second pass of Las Pataguas, while Suninen did not see the finish as he hit a tree stump on the inside of a right-hander, which immediately sent him sliding off the road and deep into the trees.

Suninen’s i20 N Rally 1 machine was out on the spot, elevating Neuville to the runner-up place. It also opened the door for Toyota Gazoo Racing to clinch the FIA World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title with two rallies to spare.

Suninen’s demise meant Toyota needed to score four bonus points more than Hyundai in the rally-closing Wolf Power Stage. And with Neuville the only Hyundai entry still running, it did exactly that, with GR Yaris Rally1 drivers Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn Evans setting the first- and second-fastest times respectively.

“A lot of things happened today, so I am really happy and pleased with everybody in the team and everybody working for the team that we managed to secure it here,” said Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT sporting director Kaj Lindström. “It is not just the people here in Chile in the service park, but everyone working for us.”

As well as taking second on the Power Stage, Evans finished third overall in Chile, which was enough to keep the WRC drivers’ championship battle alive. He headed home his teammate and WRC points leader Rovanpera — who was celebrating his 23rd birthday on Sunday — by 1m4.1s and now takes the intra-team battle to at least the penultimate round, the inaugural Central European Rally later this month.

However, with Rovanpera leading the WRC points by 31 points, post-Chile, and a maximum of just 60 on offer from the two remaining rallies, the Finn could clinch the title on the all-asphalt event.

WRC points leader Kalle Rovanpera finished fourth in Chile, meaning the title battle remains unresolved. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

More than five minutes back from Rovanpera in a lonely fifth overall, and completing a GR Yaris 3-4-5, was Takamoto Katsuta.

The remainder of the top-10 leaderboard comprised WRC2 runners, with Oliver Solberg holding on to the lead he’d grabbed on Saturday’s final stage to steer his Skoda Fabia RS to the win in international rallying’s second-tier category.

Fellow Skoda drivers Gus Greensmith and Sami Pajari — the up-and-coming Finn who’d looked set for the class win before major tire issues on Saturday’s final stage — completed the WRC2 podium, with Yohan Rossel (Citroen C3) and Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda) ensuring WRC2 runners packed the rest of the overall top 10.

Sweden’s Oliver Solberg wrapped up the WRC2 class honors, heading an all-Skoda podium. McKlein/Motorsport Images

The WRC returns to Europe next for the Central European Rally, a brand-new, tri-country event. The all-asphalt event takes places Oct. 26 -29 with a unique format that includes multiple border crossings to take in special stages in Germany, Austria and Czech Republic.

WRC Rally Chile, final positions after Day Three, SS16
1 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Ford Puma Rally1) 3h06m38.1s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +42.1s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m06.9s
4 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m11.0s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +4m41.5s
6 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 winner) +8m18.5s
7 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andresson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +8m44.3s
8 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +9m20.6s
9 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +9m53.9s
10 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +10m08.2s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 11 rounds
1 Rovanpera 217 points
2 Evans 186
3 Neuville 155
4 Tanak 146
5 Sebastien Ogier 99

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 11 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing 466 points (2023 champions)
2 Hyundai Motorsport 360
3 M-Sport Ford 247

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.

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.