Latvala flies over the Rally of Mexico

Jari-Matti Latvala becomes the first Finn to win the Rally of Mexico by winning with a minute ahead of his teammate Sébastien Ogier. The advantage of the Volkswagen driver's position on the road during the last two days allowed him to create a lead too large to be taken back to normal. This is the 16th success of the Nordic pilot in WRC.

“I wasn't feeling very well after competing in two rallies without scoring any points. This test has not been successful for me in the past. I've been going there for a decade and this is the first time I haven't encountered any problems.", declared the Finn who gave Volkswagen its fourth consecutive victory in this event and its 12th success in a row, thus equaling its record achieved between the 2013 Rally Australia and the 2014 Rally Finland.

The people's manufacturer wins a new double with Sébastien Ogier finishing one minute behind the winner after having swept for most of the event. The three-time world champion won the Power Stage ahead of his Finnish teammate and Hayden Paddon (Hyundai).

Dani Sordo (Hyundai) finished in third place ahead of Mads Ostberg (Ford), but the Spaniard was demoted to fourth behind Mads Ostberg following a penalty for using too many tires.

The pilot M-Sport climbs to second place in the Championship following the retirement of Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen) in the third stage. Malcolm Wilson's team is also celebrating Ford's 200th consecutive points finish, a run that stretches back to the 2002 Monte-Carlo Rally with Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae who finished third and fourth in Focus WRCs.

Hayden Paddon completes the top five ahead Ott Tänak (Ford) and Martin Prokop (Ford). Despite the Guanajuato special which is the longest route of the season at 80 km, the ranking has not changed. The crews remained cautious given the significant gaps at the start of the last stage.

Teemu Suninen (Skoda Fabia R5) takes a crushing victory in WRC 2 by taking ninth place in the general classification with a lead of more than 20 minutes over Hubert Ptaszek (Peugeot 208 T16 R5).

Discover the analysis of the Rally of Mexico carried out by our special correspondent in issue 2053 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.