Day 1
Championship Leader Estonian Tänak enjoyed being the last out of the Rally1 cars before he takes over road-clearing duties on Friday morning.
The 35-year-old went 58sec flat on the first round in his Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 – 0.8 sec quicker than reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä. He then repeated the feat less than half an hour later when he again topped his Finnish rival to increase his overnight lead to 1.7 sec.
Esapekka Lappi finished a further 0.5sec behind Rovanperä in third position. Lappi’s team-mate Thierry Neuville was the next home with most recent winner in Mexico Sébastien Ogier rounding out the top five in fifth, behind the wheel of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
Ogier’s team-mate Elfyn Evans was next home in sixth position, sneaking in 0.1sec ahead of Dani Sordo.
Both making their Mexican debuts, Pierre-Louis Loubet in his Puma and Takamoto Katsuta driving a Yaris ended the day in eighth and ninth respectively.
Day 2
Despite several of the FIA World Rally Championship’s leading crews running into trouble on the gruelling gravel stages in the mountains around León, Lappi steered clear of drama to head Ogier at the first gravel round of the season.
M-Sport had a day to forget with all three M-Sport cars having issues on Friday. limping through the morning with minimal power. His team-mates Pierre-Louis Loubet and Jourdan Serderidis also faced their share of problems in the opener.
Both had to retire due to suspension damage, marking a disastrous start to the rally for the British team.
The Hyundai i20 N star led from the outset after grabbing the top spot in the morning’s opener. But Ogier, who ironically alternated drives with Lappi at Toyota Gazoo Racing last season, stayed right on his heels, with the duo exchanging times for much of the day.
Elfyn Evans filled the final podium spot, finishing 24.8sec behind his Toyota GR Yaris team-mate Ogier.
However, trouble for birthday boy Takamoto Katsuta, who lost control of his Yaris in a high-speed section on SS5 and rolled down a steep embankment.
WRC2 leader Gus Greensmith was seventh ahead of support category challengers Adrien Fourmaux and Emil Lindholm, while Kajetan Kajetanowicz completed the top 10.
Day 3
World Rally Championship legend Sebastien Ogier produced a faultless display to move into a commanding Rally Mexico lead, while Thierry Neuville heaped pressure on second-placed Elfyn Evans.
The eight-time world champion, competing in a partial WRC campaign, assumed the lead on Saturday morning after Hyundai rival Esapekka Lappi crashed out on stage 11.
Once ahead, Ogier was able to extend his advantage to 35.8s over Toyota’s team-mate Evans, who came under attack from Hyundai’s Neuville. Evans managed to hang onto to second, albeit with a slender 4.3s margin.
World champion Kalle Rovanpera will head into Sunday in a comfortable fourth (+1m34.0s) ahead of Hyundai’s Dani Sordo (+2m21.2), while WRC2 driver Gus Greensmith ended the day in sixth overall to lead the second tier class.
Day 4
With a sizeable 35.8sec advantage going into the final leg, it was a relatively straightforward Sunday for Seb Ogier who recorded his 7th victory at Rally Mexico.
He negotiated the remaining four speed tests with ultimate prowess and collected maximum bonus points from the Wolf Power Stage, finishing 27.5sec clear of Thierry Neuville at the event where he made his FIA World Rally Championship debut in 2008.
Elfyn Evans having started the day 5.3sec ahead of Neuville lost out to the Belgian mainly due to having a poor powerstage.
Kalle Rovanperä struggled to match the pace of the frontrunning trio and settled for a lonely fourth with Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, who finished over one minute further back in fifth.
Gus Greensmith finished a mighty sixth overall in his WRC2-specification Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 to win the class. Behind him were fellow support category challengers Emil Lindholm and Oliver Solberg.
Ninth overall was Ott Tänak after that turbocharger failure cost the M-Sport Ford Puma driver more than 14 minutes on Friday morning, while WRC2 star Kajetan Kajetanowicz completed the top 10.
