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WRC Rally Mexico: Ogier extends advantage after Saturday morning loop

Saturday morning's World Rally Championship loop on Rally Mexico had the three different drivers winning stages, with overnight leader Sebastien Ogier continuing to hold a secure lead

A revised starting order for the new day put Hyundai's Thierry Neuville at the front of the field, sweeping the stages after retiring on Friday with an electrical failure.

Restarting under Rally 2 rules, the Belgian's focus could only be on getting up the order to retrieve as many manufacturer points as possible.

But on the opening run through Guanajuatito his road position put him 25 seconds off the pace of Ogier's stage-winning Toyota.

At this point the Belgian slowed for what were understood to be technical issues.

The delay forced him to drop back from the first starting position and line up in fourth on the road at the start of the day's second timed test at Alfaro.

Whatever the problem was, it was cured sufficiently for Neuville to immediately claim the stage victory, heading team-mate Ott Tanak by 2.9 seconds.

Another scintillating Neuville performance on the third stage of the day at Derramadero was however stymied by a quick trip down an escape road - albeit costing less time than might have been lost by running first on the road.

Hyundai's net gains were Toyota's loss, with Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn Evans both nudged further up the running order to accommodate Neuville's miraculous recovery.

This had left only M-Sport youngster Gus Greensmith's Ford Fiesta to clear a path in front of them and neither of the Yaris drivers were able to attack in the manner that they had hoped.

Timo Suninen's M-Sport Fiesta remains in second place but has dropped more than 10 seconds off the leader.

The Finn now finds the third-place Hyundai of defending champion Ott Tanak, winner of the third stage, only 6.6 seconds in arrears.

Evans and Rovanpera rounded out the top five at the end of the morning loop, while Pontus Tidemand guided his Toksport WRT Skoda into sixth overall to head the WRC2 contingent.

Results after Saturday morning loop

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 RC1 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 2h03m08.8s - 0
2 RC1 Teemu Suninen, J.Lehtinen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 2h03m37.1s 28.3s 0
3 RC1 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 2h03m43.7s 34.9s 0
4 RC1 Elfyn Evans, S.Martin Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 2h03m53.1s 44.3s 0
5 RC1 Kalle Rovanpera, J.Halttunen Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 2h04m31.2s 1m22.4s 0
6 WRC2 Pontus Tidemand, P.Barth Toksport WRT Skoda 2h10m19.9s 7m11.1s 0
7 WRC2 Nikolay Gryazin, Y.Fedorov Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai 2h11m16.8s 8m08.0s 0
8 WRC3 Marco Bulacia Wilkinson, G.Bernacchini Marco Bulacia Wilkinson Citroen 2h13m04.7s 9m55.9s 0
9 WRC2 Ole-Christian Veiby, J.Andersson Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai 2h15m30.8s 12m22.0s 0
10 RC1 Gus Greensmith, E.Edmondson M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 2h16m05.0s 12m56.2s 0
11 WRC3 Emilio Fernandez, R.Garcia Toksport WRT Skoda 2h16m28.2s 13m19.4s 0
12 WRC3 Ricardo Trivino, M.Marti Ricardo Trivino Bujalil Skoda 2h18m05.7s 14m56.9s 0
13 WRC3 Kajetan Kajetanowicz, M.Szczepaniak Kajetan Kajetanowicz Skoda 2h21m51.7s 18m42.9s 0
14 RC2 Ricardo Cordero Jr., M.H.Valdez Ricardo Cordero Citroen 2h21m52.7s 18m43.9s 0
15 RC2 John Coyne, S.Joyce John Coyne Ford 2h31m28.9s 28m20.1s 0
16 WRC3 Gianluca Linari, N.Arena Gianluca Linari Ford 2h40m33.5s 37m24.7s 0
17 RC1 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 2h45m58.7s 42m49.9s 0
18 RC5 Gerardo Rejon Basanez, M.Pimentel Gerardo Rejon Basanez Renault 2h52m06.6s 48m57.8s 0
19 NAT4 Serge Brachet, F.Suberville Serge Brachet Mitsubishi 2h58m53.0s 55m44.2s 0
20 NAT2 Enrique Meza Reynoso, C.J.Coronel Enrique Jose Meza Reynoso Ford 3h01m26.2s 58m17.4s 0
21 RC5 Gustavo Uriostegui, D.Hernandez Gustavo A. Uriostegui Renault 3h03m47.4s 1h00m38.6s 0
22 RC2 Barry McKenna, J.Fulton Barry McKenna Skoda 3h10m42.1s 1h07m33.3s 0
23 WRC3 Benito Guerra, D.Cue Benito Guerra Skoda 3h31m02.3s 1h27m53.5s 0
24 NAT2 Alejandro Sanchez, A.D.Villegas Alejandro Mauro Sanchez Ford 3h43m37.5s 1h40m28.7s 0

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