Kris Meeke takes the lead in Mexico

54,90 km were on the menu for the drivers on the first real ES of the Rally of Mexico, after the cancellation of the first loop earlier in the day, after a road accident blocked the progress of the trucks transporting the cars to the day's specials.

Le secteur de El Chocolate s’est finalement bel et bien montré impitoyable, avec des problèmes de surchauffe, tant moteur qu’au niveau du différentiel pour plusieurs concurrents. Largement ralenti par ces problèmes, et obligé de rouler en mode route, Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) reste le grand perdant de cette spéciale, tout comme Ott Tänak (Ford) or even Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën).

Winner of the special, Kris Meeke (Citroen) was not disturbed by his worries, and carried out the right operation by taking the lead of the Mexican event at the same time. Fourth in the following stage, won by Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), le Britannique pointe désormais avec 15″7 d’avance sur Sébastien Ogier (Ford).

Hayden Paddon places his Hyundai i20 on the provisional podium at 20″3 ahead of his teammates Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville, who remains in the running for the first positions at 22″8 and 24″4.

The gap is behind the top 5, since Juho Hänninen (Toyota) is at 1'25" and precedes Ott Tänak, Stéphane Lefebvre and Jari-Matti Latvala, who is at 2'17"7. In WRC-2, Pontus Tidemand (Skoda), despite some brake problems in SS4, dominates the category ahead of Eric Camilli (Ford), best time in El Chocolate, but slowed down by the breakage of the front and rear left shock absorbers on his Fiesta R5 .

Three super-special stages are on the program between 1:34 a.m. and 2:54 a.m. this Saturday, before the next real ES, Media Luna, scheduled for 15:33 p.m.

Rally Mexico standings