Ogier dominates for seventh win, Neuville snatches second

The Toyota driver, contesting a partial WRC season, once again outlined his skills to score his second victory of the campaign, following his record ninth Rally Monte Carlo triumph in January.

The eight-time world champion and co-driver Vincent Landais took the victory with a margin of 27.5 seconds from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who snatched second from Toyota’s Elfyn Evans on the final powerstage.

Ogier made the most of his advantageous road position on Friday to emerge locked in a fight for the lead with Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi. Five stage wins to Ogier’s two helped Lappi into a 5.3s lead over the Frenchman heading into Saturday.

However, drama struck Lappi in stage 11, the first of Saturday’s tests. The Finn misjudged a left-hander and speared into an embankment that fired the i20 N across the road, before rear-ending a telegraph pole.

While Lappi and co-driver Janne Ferme emerged unscathed, the incident put the pair out of the rally, handing Ogier a sizeable lead.

Once ahead, Ogier utilised all of his experience to increase the advantage to a whopping 35.8s, helped by a stunning win on stage 16.

From there, Ogier adopted a no-risk approach to Sunday’s four stages, including the mammoth 35.63km Otates test.

Ogier claimed the victory in style by winning the powerstage. The triumph moved Ogier to the top of the championship standings, having only participated in two of the three 2023 events.

The record seventh Mexico win pulled Ogier one clear of long-time rival and nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb at the event, which returned to the WRC for the first time since 2020.

While Ogier could afford the luxury of being able to take a measured approach to Sunday, the same couldn’t be said for Evans and Neuville. Lappi’s demise thrusted the pair into second and third positions, with only 11.6s separating the duo.

Neuville’s run to third had included the challenge of losing his hybrid unit after hitting a bump in Friday’s stage. The Belgian also suffered a blocked damper and a front driveshaft issue before a puncture struck on stage 18.

However, a string of four stage wins across Saturday reduced the gap to Evans to 4.3s heading into the final four stages.

Evans managed to stem the flow of time loss but a bent suspension arm brought Neuville back into the fight, only 2.7s adrift heading into the final stage. In the end, Neuville triumphed, pipping Evans by 0.4s on the powerstage to snatch second overall.