Kris Meeke dominates Mexican shakedown

Citroën Racing and Chris Meeke showed themselves to their advantage over the 5,31 km shakedown of the Rally from Mexico. The British driver set the best time in the training special this Thursday in 3'41 "0 on his third visit.

Last year's winner is ahead of the championship leader Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), battu pour quatre dixièmes. Le champion du monde en titre Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport Ford) suit en troisième position à 1″8 et précède Ott Tänak (Toyota), quatrième ex-aequo avec son ancien équipier. Quatre marques différentes entrent ainsi dans le top 4.

Followed by Elfyn Evans (M-Sport Ford), Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota), Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai), Dani Sordo (Hyundai), Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Ford) and Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) which enters the top 10.

The nine-time world champion completed the shakedown 2″6 behind his teammate Meeke’s benchmark, after gradually increasing the pace over his first three passes.

Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) was so far in eleventh position, but the Finn encountered a problem during the day, with his Yaris stopping WRC after his second visit. Toyota Gazoo Racing has indicated that it is investigating the cause of this problem.

The car of @EsapekkaLappi has stopped in the shakedown stage. All is OK, and we are investigating what caused them to stop. #RallyMexico #WRC

— TGR_WRC (@TGR_WRC) March 8, 2018

Kalle Rovenpera (Skoda) dominates in WRC-2. The first special stage of the Rally Mexico will take place overnight, the results can be found tomorrow morning on our website.

Shakedown ranking Rally Mexico 2018:

1. Kris Meeke – Paul Nagle (Citroën) – 3’41″0
2. Thierry Neuville – Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai) – 3’41″4 (+0″4)
3. Sébastien Ogier – Julien Ingrassia (M-Sport Ford) – 3’42″8 (+1″8)
4. Ott Tänak – Martin Jarveoja (Toyota) – 3’42″8 (+1″8)
5. Elfyn Evans – Daniel Barritt (M-Sport Ford) – 3’43″0 (+2″0)
6. Jari-Matti Latvala – Miikka Anttila (Toyota) – 3’43″1 (+2″1)
7. Andreas Mikkelsen – Anders Jäger (Hyundai) – 3’43″3 (+2″3)
8. Dani Sordo – Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai) – 3’43″4 (+2″4)
9. Teemu Suninen – Markko Markkula (M-Sport Ford) – 3’43″4 (+2″4)
10. Sébastien Loeb – Daniel Elena (Citroën) – 3’43″6 (+2″6)