WRC – Mexico: Ogier unfolds, Ostberg dismounts

Sébastien Ogier had an exemplary morning during the second stage of the Rally from Mexico. The Volkswagen driver increased his lead by winning the two special victories while avoiding the pitfalls which did not spare the competition, and more precisely his direct rival Mads Ostberg. The Norwegian damaged his suspension following a collision in Ibarilla (SS12) and had to throw in the towel on the connecting course despite an attempted repair. The Citroën DS3 WRC will start again in Rally2.

Jari-Matti Latvala thus finds himself in second position, almost 50 seconds behind his teammate and offers Volkswagen the possibility of achieving a double in Mexico. The Finn has no pressure since his direct competitor is now Thierry Neuville who finds himself on the provisional podium after taking the advantage over Elfyn Evans. If the pilot Hyundai was in difficulty on the first day, his consistency and the abandonments of his rivals allowed him to claim a top three finish despite being four minutes behind the leader of the race. Behind the first pilot M-Sport in fourth position, 11 seconds behind the reigning vice-champion, Martin Prokop completes the top five ahead of Benito Guerra and Chris Atkinson. Yuriy Protasov is alone at the head of WRC2 following the retirement of Lorenzo Bertelli who rolled over. The Ukrainian is ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and Kris Meeke.

Robert Kubica was one of the victims of the long 53,69km Otates special. The Pole rolled again while still in ninth place despite his previous roll which occurred yesterday evening in the super special. Andreas Mikkelsen also ended up on the roof after going off the road.

The remaining crews will leave at 21:19 p.m. French time for the second passage of Ibarilla. Videos of the event are available on this link.