Rally Mexico 2019
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The crews are now preparing to compete in the El Brinco special, the last real time of the day with its 8,13km. Mikkelsen is expected to start at 0:38 a.m.
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Ott Tänak (Toyota) took the scratch in the second pass of the 32,37km Otates, SS14 of the Rally of Mexico. With a time of 24'25''2, the Estonian took more than 9 seconds from Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) and more than 16 seconds from Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) who was struggling with his hard tires.
Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) was closest to the benchmark with 1”5 behind, preceding Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and Kris Meeke (Toyota).
Sébastien Ogier now has a half-minute lead over Elfyn Evans, but the Welshman sees Ott Tänak come back to less than 6 seconds. Thierry Neuville and Kris Meeke still complete the Top 5.
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Latvala was on a good pace, 1″5 behind his teammate Tänak, setting the 2nd fastest time in the SS.
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Ogier limits his delay to 9″1 against Tänak and increases his lead to 30″4 against Evans in the general classification. “We don't attack hard to control the lead. The stage was very slow and there really wasn't much grip. »
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And it’s a delay of 16″6 for Evans against Tänak. The M-Sport driver now only has a 5″8 lead over the Estonian in the general classification. “I had a lot of trouble, there was no grip with the hard tyres. »
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Evans is more than 16s behind Tänak in the last split. It's time for the special to end for the M-Sport driver.
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Evans is now almost 14s behind Tänak in the 4th intermediate. The gap is narrowing against the Estonian.
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Meeke achieves the 3rd provisional time, 8″2 behind his teammate Tänak. The Northern Irishman is in 5th place.
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Ogier is 6s behind Tänak in the 3rd split. Evans is still almost 9s behind the Estonian.
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Tänak improves Neuville’s performance by 3″5. Enough to come back to Evans? “I do as much as possible. This is not easy on such slow courses. The car was better this morning. »
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Tänak took 9s from Evans in the 3rd intermediate. The Toyota driver returns to threaten the Welshman.
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Ogier maintains a 1″3 lead over Evans in the 2nd split and is 3″6 behind Tänak.
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Neuville clearly improves the mark with a 15″5 lead over his teammate Sordo. The Belgian remains in 4th place. " It went well. The car performs better on certain roads. We were quite comfortable here. »
23h
Ogier is ahead of Evans by 2″4 at the first intermediate. The Welshman is almost 5s behind Tänak in the next split.
23h
Sordo finished 1″4 ahead of his teammate Mikkelsen. His Hyundai was slightly damaged at the rear. “Hard tires are not very efficient. Medium tires could have worked here. »
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Tänak is more than 2 seconds ahead of Neuville in the 3rd intermediate position. Evans is 2s behind the Estonian in the 1st split.
23h
Mikkelsen sets the first time in 24'45″6 “It's very slippery, there was a lot of sand on the road. I feel like I did a good SS. » It's half a minute better than his first passage.
23h
Neuville is ahead of his teammate Sordo by 6s in the 2nd split, but Tänak is faster with 8 tenths ahead of the Belgian in the 1st intermediate.
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Tänak joins the Hyundais in the special. The Toyota driver looks to stay in contact with Evans in the fight for 2nd place.
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Sordo is 9 tenths behind his teammate Mikkelsen at the first intermediate.
