Top Performer - Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais
Two record-breaking victories from two WRC events contested and the championship lead. It has been a perfect start to the year for Sebastien Ogier and new co-driver Vincent Landais.
But it was the manner of the Toyota driver's latest triumph in Mexico which confirmed Ogier is driving at his very best. Armed with a favourable road position and six WRC wins on Mexican soil, Ogier was definitely a firm favourite to clinch a record-breaking seventh.
However, he was pushed throughout Friday by Hyundai's Esapekka Lappi as he trailed the Finn by 5.3s heading into Saturday, but it was clear the eight-time world champion had more in the tank. Knowing how brutal Mexico can be, Ogier adopted an approach of taking just the correct amount of risk which has served him so well in the past.
Once Lappi crashed, Ogier was afforded the luxury of being able to manage a healthy gap to the finish. However, the timing screens didn't suggest this. In stage 16, Ogier showed his sublime tyre management skills to lay down a time 8.1s faster than Thierry Neuville to win the test. It was a time that made everyone sit up and take notice, including Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala, who labelled the performance "unique".
What was perhaps even more impressive was his display in the powerstage. Ogier didn't necessarily need to push for the extra bonus points but took all five of them to absolutely stamp his authority on the event. In the end, the Frenchman won by 27.5s from Neuville. Ogier added an extra touch of class by dedicating the win to a friend Tim Lobinger, who succumbed to cancer earlier this year.
Ogier once again reiterated that he has no desire to contest a full season, but given he is expecting to compete in seven rounds this year, a continuation of this form could thrust him into the title mix.
Honourable mentions: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe, Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin, Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson and Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson
Thierry Neuville's never give up attitude was once again ever present in Mexico. Starting third on the road, which effectively became second after Ott Tanak's turbo failure on Friday morning, was always going to offer a challenge on the dusty gravel roads.
Neuville also had to contend with a blocked damper and a loss of the critical hybrid boost after hitting a heavy compression in stage 3. The Hyundai driver then turned mechanic to manage a broken driveshaft, and yet despite all of this, he found himself well and truly in the podium fight. An impressive drive to overhaul Toyota's Elfyn Evans on the final powerstage yielded a thoroughly deserved second.
While Evans lost his grasp of second to Neuville by 0.4s on the final stage, largely due to a broken suspension arm, the Welshman looked far more comfortable, and more importantly, fast behind the wheel of the GR Yaris. Evans held third through Friday, which was upgraded to second when Hyundai's Esapekka Lappi crashed from the lead on Saturday morning.
Evans delivered a crucial fastest time on stage 21, and displayed his fine mechanic skills to make a repair on the run, that just about held across the final two stages.
Gus Greensmith made an instant impact on his return to the WRC, competing in the WRC2 class with reigning champion squad Toksport. The former M-Sport driver blitzed the stages in his new Skoda Fabia to cruise to a class victory, ahead of 2022 champion Emil Lindholm.
Greensmith could have found himself involved in a much closer fight had Oliver Solberg avoided a puncture on Friday. The WRC2 championship leader was again in fine form chalking up 10 stage winning times. His most impressive arrived on stage 21, where he was a staggering 26.5s faster than nearest rival Lindholm. The Swede also clocked the third fastest time overall on stage 9, beating five Rally1 drivers in the process.
Team of the Week: Toyota Gazoo Racing
Heading into Mexico there was plenty of discussion surrounding Toyota and how it would perform after hot dry, rough gravel rallies proved to be the GR Yaris' Achilles heel last year.
Toyota particularly struggled to match its rivals in Sardinia and Greece which has led to plenty of hard work being carried out behind the scenes at Toyota's Jyvaskyla workshop to resolve the issue, which stemmed around the GR Yaris' suspension.
"Last year we were missing the traction coming out of the corners," said Latvala before the rally got underway. "Drivers were complaining about the understeer from the car and these were the areas we were working on in the test."
Mexico vindicated that works as Toyota were more than capable of taking the fight to Hyundai and M-Sport. Ogier's victory followed by a third for Evans and fourth for world champion Kalle Rovanpera, proved the GR Yaris will be a force to be reckoned with on all gravel rallies this year. A worrying thought for the rest of the field given the Yaris was the car to beat overall in 2022.
"We haven't been so successful in this kind of conditions last year so all that hard work that the development engineers did before this event to make sure we would have the car that our drivers could fight with," said a jubilant Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala.
"This now proves we have managed to turn the car around for this kind of conditions so I'm so proud of the team. We were under pressure. I can tell you at the end of last year like Sardinia and Greece especially was a difficult time for us and of course, everyone had some doubts about how we would manage in Mexico. I think even Ogier showed on powerstage that the car is fast but the drivers are made of iron."
Moments of Heartbreak
Crashing out of the lead is perhaps the most heartbreaking of moments for a driver in any motorsport discipline. That is exactly what happened to Lappi.
The Finn declared his Friday performance, where he edged a head-to-head with one of rallying's all-time greats and Mexico master in Ogier, as one of the best days of his WRC career. A 5.3s lead after scoring five stage wins outlined Lappi was back to his very best.
However, only a few hours later he was left staring at his wrecked i20 N contemplating what might have been. Lappi ran wide at a left-hander which triggered a frightening turn of events. The car nosed into an embankment before being fired across the round and into a telegraph pole which fell on the car.
A small fire broke out after oil from a canister positioned at the top of the pole trickled down into the car's engine bay. Luckily, Lappi and co-driver Janne Ferm avoided injury. The pair eventually managed to get the fire under control thanks to receiving a second fire extinguisher from WRC2 crew Greensmith and Jonas Andersson.
"It might sound crazy to you but I felt like I was driving too slow," said Lappi. "When you drive more safe it is actually more difficult and I believe this happened now. I drove a bit too safe.
"It was very very unfortunate. It is hard to swallow but on the other hand when you fight for the win you still need to push and maybe I was not pushing hard enough actually."
Ott Tanak's rally lasted barely 15 kilometres before drama struck. The Rally Sweden winner suffered a turbo failure on stage 3, El Chocolate, having enjoyed an early after dominating Thursday's superspecial stages in downtown Guanajuato.
The El Chocolate stage is not one M-Sport will look back on favourable as Pierre-Louis Loubet and Jourdan Serderidis both crashed in separate incidents.
Tanak lost twelve minutes across Friday mornings stages leaving the Estonian well down the order. The 2019 world champion also struggled to gel with the M-Sport but still delivered four stage wins on his way to recovering to ninth. Four bonus championship points from the powerstage could also prove valuable come the end of the season.
Lucky Escapes
Toyota's Takamoto Katsuta can count himself lucky his excursion off the road in stage 5 didn't result in more serious damage to his GR Yaris. The Japanese driver was able to rejoin the rally on Saturday.
M-Sport WRC2 driver Adrien Fourmaux showcased his incredible stunt driving skills to avoid what appeared an almost certain collision with a rock face in the Las Dunas superspecial.
Adrien just about got away with this one 😰 pic.twitter.com/AXXDI7Ce55
— M-Sport (@MSportLtd) March 19, 2023
World champion Kalle Rovanpera and Hyundai's Neuville were also fortunate not to crash when they hit an unexpected bump in the road on stage 4 that wasn't there during the recce.
Top Tweets
Mexico rally fans are a passionate bunch but also hugely respectful as shown by a stunning mural tribute to the late Ken Block at the opening stage.
Some brilliant Mexican WRC fans have created a mural in tribute to the late Ken Block at the second corner of last night's stage in Guanajuato city centre 🖼 👏
— Autosport (@autosport) March 17, 2023
📸 x Hyundai and Toyota#RallyMexico 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/9CwXjcSnuI
Gravel rallies are renowned for dust but it's not often it hampers visibility by entering the cabin as Hyundai's Dani Sordo experienced.
Visibility = poor 😲❌
— Autosport (@autosport) March 18, 2023
Dani Sordo managing to maintain his composure as dust fills the cockpit of his Hyundai i20 N. #RallyMexico #WRC
pic.twitter.com/awFHCTd2EM
The helicopter camera crew certainly earned their money over the weekend.
Just casually racing a helicopter on a mountain 👀🤯#WRC #WRCLive pic.twitter.com/0RHmuwDk2I
— World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) March 20, 2023
It is always good practice to tighten the belts when going over a jump.
Full send was the only option here! 💪🔥#WRC #WRCLive #RallyMexico pic.twitter.com/Giyvl9sI4c
— World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) March 20, 2023
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