Sébastien Ogier is the new leader of Rally México as erstwhile top man Ott Tänak lost over 45 seconds to stage winner Ogier on the Ortega test.
Tänak’s time loss through the 10.7-mile stage was consistent but it all seemed sedate and calm from inside the car, suggesting an ongoing technical problem that has not yet been communicated by the Hyundai team.
The net result is a 35s deficit to the new rally leader with that gap likely to swell with two more stages to run until service.
Defending world champion Tänak is now eighth, ahead of only Hyundai team-mate Dani Sordo in the RC1 class.
Sordo’s radiator problems were fully rectified as he set a time just 0.8s slower than Ogier but he remains over five minutes adrift of the leaders.
Ogier began the stage 0.3s behind M-Sport’s Teemu Suninen but outpaced the Ford by 5.6s to hold a 5.3s advantage for Toyota after two of México’s gravel stages.
Despite struggling to match the ultimate pace, Thierry Neuville is now up to third courtesy of Tänak’s problems; setting an identical time to Elfyn Evans on Ortega.
Neuville’s 8.3s buffer over his Toyota rival therefore remains stable while Esapekka Lappi lurks just 3.4s in arrears of Neuville in fourth with Evans fifth.
After his tyre struggles on SS3, Kalle Rovanperä dropped yet more time on SS4 as he slipped to 25.6s behind team-mate Ogier. Rovanperä is sixth, 7.7s up on Gus Greensmith.
Leading positions after SS4
1 Ogier (Toyota)
2 Suninen (M-Sport Ford) +5.3s
3 Neuville (Hyundai) +10.5s
4 Lappi (M-Sport Ford) +13.9s
5 Evans (Toyota) +18.8s
6 Rovanperä (Toyota) +25.6s
7 Greensmith (M-Sport Ford) +33.3s
8 Tänak (Hyundai) +35.0s
9 Tidemand (Skoda) +2m06.5s
10 Bulacia (Citroën) +2m07.9s
