A tough Rally Mexico for the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team ended on a high with the team winning all three of the stages on the final day. Jari-Matti Latvala took the first fastest time as he secured eighth overall, before Ott Tänak scored two more stage wins, including on the rally-ending Power Stage to take home five bonus points.
Latvala had to restart under Rally 2 rules on Saturday after a technical issue on Friday evening, but despite a time penalty, he managed to get back into the points positions and finish eighth overall. He won the day’s first stage, Alfaro, by 9.7 seconds. He was then second on both runs over Las Minas, scoring four bonus points on the Power Stage. On his first time competing in Mexico, Esapekka Lappi was forced to retire on Friday after going off the road, but restarted and gained valuable experience on his way to 11th overall.
Tänak restarted this morning with the aim of scoring points in the Power Stage, after a mechanical fault had forced him out of the fight for the rally win. Having already won the first pass of Las Minas, he used maximum effort to get as good a result as possible from the Power Stage. He went quickest to claim five bonus points, leading Latvala by 1.3 seconds in a one-two for the Toyota Yaris WRC.
FINAL RESULT, RALLY MEXICO
- 1
- Sebastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC)3h54m08.0s
- 2
- Dani Sordo / Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)+1m03.6s
- 3
- Kris Meeke / Paul Nagle (Citroen C3 WRC)+1m19.2s
- 4
- Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jaeger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)+1m38.4s
- 5
- Sebastien Loeb / Daniel Elena (Citroen C3 WRC)+2m24.6s
- 6
- Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)+9m03.0s
- 7
- Pontus Tidemand / Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia R5)+10m24.7s
- 8
- Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC)+15m37.1s
- 9
- Gus Greensmith / Craig Parry (Ford Fiesta R5)+17m09.3s
- 10
- Pedro Heller / Pablo Olmos (Ford Fiesta R5)+24m18.1s
- 11
- Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC)+30m57.8s
- 14
- Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC)+1h02m42.8s
What’s next?
Round four is the Tour de Corse on April 5-8. The classic event on the French island of Corsica is famous for its narrow and twisty asphalt stages, which give it the nickname ‘The Rally of 10,000 Corners’. Mountainous stages lined by rock faces on one side and steep drops on the other, numerous surface changes and long stages provide a major test for the drivers.
