The Saturday of the Rally of Mexicothe third round of the 2023 WRC World Championship, gave the pilots complicated internships and crowned a Sebastien Ogier in great sweep. The French Toyota legend goes into the final day of racing with a margin of 35.8 seconds over the Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota GR Yaris) while in third place we find the Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20) to 40.1. All the others are more distant, starting from the fourth place of the Finn Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota GR Yaris) at 1:34 while the Spaniard is fifth Dani Sordo (Hyundai i20) a 2:21.
THE RACE
The day kicked off with the SS11 Ibarrilla 1 of 14.82 kilometers which saw the success of Sebastien Ogier with 2.5 seconds on Elfyn Evans and 4.4 on Thierry Neuville. Dani Sordo leaves 13.2, while Esapekka Lappi is forced to retire due to an accident. We then moved on to SS12 The Mosquito 1 of 22.56 kilometers with the best performance by Thierry Neuville with just 7 tenths on Elfyn Evans and 1.4 on Sebastien Ogier. Then it was the turn of the SS13 Derramadero 1 of 21.70 kilometers and it happened again for Thierry Neuville with only one tenth on Sebastien Ogier and half a second on Elfyn Evans. The first part of the day ended with the SS14 The Dunes Superspecial 2 of 3.53 kilometers and again Thierry Neuville closes in the lead with half a second on Oliver Solberg and 7 tenths on Ott Tanak.
Rally Mexico 2023, Lappi-Ogier duel for victory after ten special stages. Tanak collapses with a turbo failure
The afternoon included the SS15 Ibarrilla 2but the special was cancelled, so we immediately moved on to SS16 The Mosquito 2 of 22.56 kilometers and comes the sprint of Sebastien Ogier who precedes Thierry Neuville for 8.1 seconds and Elfyn Evans for 8.3. Back in action with the SS17 Spillway 2 of 21.70 kilometers and Thierry Neuville again sets the pace with 2.6 on Elfyn Evans and 3.1 on Sebastien Ogier. The Mexican Saturday ended with two very fast stages. There SS18 The Dunes Superspecial 3 saw Ott Tanak’s success, so he ended up with the SS19 Rock & Rally SSS of 1.30 kilometers and again the Estonian to finish at the top.
Photo: LPS Nikos Katikis
