Sébastien Ogier leads Rally México on Friday night ahead of Teemu Suninen and Elfyn Evans, on a day where Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo and Esapakka Lappi all exited the contest.
Ott Tänak seized the early initative on the first run of El Chocolate to lead Suninen and Ogier but it all turned on its head on the following test. Reigning World Rally Champion Tänak ran wide and damaged his suspension, losing him 35 seconds that demoted him down to eighth.
Ogier overhauled Suninen on that same test and would not look back, eking out his advantage on the two runs of Autódromo Shell V-Power and the León street stage as well that concluded the day to head Suninen by 13.2s after 12 of the rally’s 24 stages.
Tänak was on an imperious comeback mission and had vaulted back up to third at the expense of Toyota duo Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanperä.
The trio headed into the three super-specials separated by a mere 1.5s with Tänak in third, but he lost the place to Evans after an untidy donut on the day’s final stage to trail Evans by 0.2s.
Despite not enjoying the “slippery” conditions as the first car onto the stages on Friday, Evans will be satisfied to be rounding out the podium albeit 20s behind Suninen. But he will have a tough ask to contain Tänak and his teenage team-mate, whose pace drastically improved in the afternoon.
A slow puncture for Rovanperä on Friday’s first test enforced a cautious approach for the remainder of the loop before he got the bit between his teeth and put the hammer down. He is fifth, 2.5s behind his team-mate overnight.
Only six World Rally Cars made it through Friday, but it was Lappi’s retirement that was by far the most dramatic. His M-Sport Ford Fiesta completed the end of the afternoon’s first stage, but the rear of the car had caught fire. Despite the best efforts of marshals at the stop control, the blaze couldn’t be contained, and Lappi’s Fiesta was burned to a crisp.
Neuville had been running in third for much of Friday but it all went wrong on the final gravel test of the day. Just a couple of miles onto the test, his Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC appearedto lose power and came to a standstill.
He was out for the day, a stage after team-mate Sordo befell a similar issue. Sordo’s Friday was ruined right from the very first stage though as a radiator issue cost him five minutes. His Hyundai was under its car cover at service, indicating that it will take no further part in the event.
Gus Greensmith completes the top six on his first Mexican outing in a World Rally Car, despite a difficult final stage. He is 41.1s off the top five and over three minutes ahead of WRC 2 leader Pontus Tidemand.
Tidemand had a flawless day in his Škoda Fabia R5 to lead the category ahead of Hyundai’s Nikolay Gryazin. WRC 3 is led by Marco Bulacia on his first rally in Citroën’s C3 R5. Chilean Emilio Fernández is 10th and second in class in a Škoda.
Oliver Solberg was expected to challenge but retired on the first pass of El Chocolate as a rock damaged his Polo R5’s sumpguard and allowed all of the engine’s oil to escape.
Ken Block entered his Ford Escort Cosworth but has endured a nightmare weekend. First a misfiring engine ruined his run on Thursday night’s double running of Street Stage Guanajuato, then his car ground to a halt on Friday’s first stage too. He won’t restart on Saturday.
Leading positions after SS12
1 Ogier (Toyota)
2 Suninen (M-Sport Ford) +13.2s
3 Evans (Toyota) +33.2s
4 Tänak (Hyundai) +33.4s
5 Rovanperä (Toyota) +35.7s
6 Greensmith (M-Sport Ford) +1m16.8s
7 Tidemand (Škoda) +4m16.7s
8 Gryazin (Hyundai) +5m7.8s
9 Bulacia (Citroën) +5m54.3s
10 Fernández (Škoda) +8m39.8s
