Skip to content
Sebastien Ogier took a commanding lead at Rally Mexico after his main rival Esapekka Lappi crashed on the day’s opening stage. The WRC legend built up a lead of over 30 seconds over his team-mate, who had spent all day being chased by Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai.
Saturday
Ibarrilla, El Mosquito, Derramadero and Las Dunas are the three morning tests with which the crews will start their day. After the midday service, they then repeat the same three routes with another run through Distrito Leon Mx Rock and Rally to wrap up the penultimate day of the event.
In the morning, the resumption of the fight between Esapekka Lappi and Sebastien Ogier was eagerly awaited, but it didn’t happen. The two started the day 5.3s apart with both drivers knowing they had to be there from the start but 10km into SS11 Lappi crashed his Hyundai after being caught by a series of corners. The Finn collided with a power pole before briefly catching fire.
“There was a right with a cut and it went straight into a left crest,” explained a disconsolate Lappi. “I was a bit surprised by this cut and was stopped at the left entrance. We went too far and hit the embankment which immediately threw us off and we hit the rear of the car.”
Lappi’s accident meant Ogier was virtually unchallenged for the rest of the morning. The Frenchman held a 28.5 second lead over teammate Evans after paring back on aggressiveness after his main challenger left. However, Evans is fighting for second place with Thierry Neuville. The Belgian put yesterday’s problems behind to have a smooth morning, cutting the service gap to 8.7 seconds.
Kalle Rovanpera ended the morning a further 36.6 seconds behind as his Toyota lacked traction. Evans had complained about a similar problem, so it’s possible that Toyota hasn’t gotten a handle on its severe gravel problems from last year. Despite this, Rovanpera was still leading Dani Sordo by 43.1 seconds in the morning session.
Lappi’s crash had a domino effect on the field as the SS15 had to be canceled due to his failure to complete the Irrabilla stage. Due to stage interruptions, the WRC2 field only drove one special stage throughout the morning.
Throughout the afternoon, Ogier continued to control his pace and extend his lead over Evans. A stage win on El Mosquito 2 meant the Frenchman went into the final day of a rally where he made his first WRC debut in 2008 with a commanding lead of 35.8 seconds.
“I think the lead is good,” said Ogier. “It was another strong day for me. We had a slightly different approach after Esapekka took off on the first leg in the morning.”
Evans had a fight with Thierry Neuville who rushed him down. Although the Belgian was unable to overtake the Welshman by the end of the day, with four stages to go, the gap would be just 4.3 seconds. Rovanpera lost more time on the duo due to a stall in Derramadero 2 which left the Finn 54s behind Neuville.
Sordo finished the day in fifth, 47.2 seconds off the reigning champion. The Spaniard was focused on trying new setups as he struggled against a loose rear car, but he is the last Rally1 car in the top six overall.
Status after day 3
- Ogier 2 hrs 35 mins 37.6 secs
- Evans +35.8s
- Neuville +40.1s
- Rovanpera +1min 34s
- Sordo +2min 21.2s
- Greensmith (WRC2) +10min 33.4s