© Hyundai Motorsport / Romain Thui
Esapekka Lappi (Toyota Yaris Rally1) leads after the first loop of three GC stages on the second day of the Rally Mexico. The Finn is 1.4 seconds ahead of first pursuer Sébastien Ogier (Toyota Yaris Rally1). Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) is fifth at 23.2 seconds behind his Finnish teammate. World Championship leader Ott Tänak (Ford Puma Rally1) soon had to deal with a turbo problem.
Jens HeylenBron: BELGIAN
Tänak won the two short classification stages last night and was therefore the first leader in the Rally Mexico. After his victory in Sweden, the Estonian took the lead in the World Cup and so he had to be the first on the track on Friday. After a total of 15.8 km Tänak had to pull over with a turbo problem. The Estonian started tinkering, was eventually able to leave again and finally reached the finish.
M-Sport was hit again on the same stage when Pierre-Louis Loubet (Ford Puma Rally1) hit a boulder on the inside of a corner, breaking a wheel. And if that wasn’t enough, privateer driver Jourdan Serderidis (Ford Puma Rally1) made a mistake and three of the four M-Sport cars were scrapped. Tänak was able to continue the race but that was not the case for Loubet and Serderidis. Esapekka Lappi won the first GC stage.
Ogier won the second GC and was 0.4 sec faster than Lappi. The Finn was the fastest during the third classification stage and moves towards assistance with a bonus of 1.4 seconds. The Japanese Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota Yaris Rally1) went off the track and had to retire.
Later in the day, the same loop of three classification stages will be driven followed by two short classification stages.