Defending champion Sebastien Ogier took his third win of the season at round three of the 2015 World Rally Championship in Mexico – continuing his unbeaten streak from last year’s penultimate round and extending his championship lead.
The Frenchman had predicted that it would be near impossible to take the victory by starting from the front of field, a disadvantageous position in that the leader has to sweep the roads – not the position anyone would want to be in on the first real gravel event of the season.
Despite that, Ogier took the lead on Thursday evening with his VW Polo WRC and wasn’t in danger of losing command of the event thereafter. The two-time champion went on to win by 1 minute 18 seconds, earning a Rally Mexico hat trick in the process.
“I think we can be proud, we did an amazing job this weekend. I think it’s one of the best wins of my career. To open the road in Mexico and win is special. A lot of people made mistakes, but we put maximum pressure on them,” Ogier said afterward.
The mistakes Ogier referred to were made by Belgian rival Thierry Neuville, who rolled his Hyundai i20 WRC and Finnish teammate Jari-Matti Latvala , whose suspension on his Polo WRC failed after hitting a bank. Kris Meeke also crashed out in his Citroen DS3 WRC, and M-Sport’s Ott Tanak’s Ford Fiesta WRC plunged into a lake – adding to the list of contenders who dropped out of the pecking order this past weekend.
The battle for second overall went down between Citroen Total Abu Dhabi Rally Team driver Mads Ostberg and Volkswagen Motorsport II ace Andreas Mikkelsen. An early spin saw the former drop down the leaderboard, but he still managed to come back and hold Mikkelsen off. M-Sport’s Elfyn Evans finished fourth, a minute ahead of Hyundai’s Dani Sordo.
The next round of the championship is Rally Argentina, the next in a run of six all-gravel events, from 23 to 26 April.
STANDINGS
Driver’s championship
1. Sebastien Ogier – 81 points
2. Andreas Mikkelsen – 47
3. Thierry Neuville – 35
4. Mads Ostberg – 32
5. Elfyn Evans – 26
6. Jari-Matti Latvala – 19
7.Dani Sordo – 18
8. Martin Prokop – 14
Manufacturer’s championship
1. Volkswagen Motorsport – 99 points
2. Hyundai Motorsport – 75
3. M-Sport World Rally Team – 48
4. Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team – 42
5. Jipocar Czech National Team – 20
