Reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier continued his impressive start to the season by winning Rally Guanajuato Mexico, round three of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship. The Frenchman had a steady run on the final day of the event after his teammate Jari Matti Latvala‘s mistake on the previous leg left him in a comfortable lead.
Three stages were all that separated the crews from the finish line on day four as the final push for glory commenced. The main battle of interest on the final day was between Citroen’s Mads Ostberg and Volkswagen’s Andreas Mikkelsen who were separated by 4.5 seconds.
Ostberg beat his fellow Norwegian on SS19 and 20 and held second place by 8.6 seconds going into the power stage. Despite beating Ostberg on the final test it was not enough for Mikkelsen to overhaul the Citroen driver and he had to settle for third. Ogier capped off a perfect weekend with victory on the power stage earning him three extra points.
“To have this gap after three rallies is something I could never dream of. I don’t know which words to use to describe the start of the season and to describe this weekend,” said the Volkswagen Polo R pilot.
“It looks really great in the chanmpionship but we’ve done only three out of 13 rallies so there is definitely no time to relax. There are five rallies in a row on gravel now and normally that can be an advantage for me. I don’t want to say what might happen on the next one, but what is done is done.”
Mikkelsen took second with Thierry Neuville going third fastest taking the final bonus point and eight overall, consolation for his mistake on Saturday.
In WRC2 it was Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah that took the honours by almost eight minutes beating Peruvian driver Nicolas Fuchs with Jari Ketoma in third place a further 21 seconds behind.
The next round of the WRC takes place in Argentina commencing on April 23rd.
Final Classification
1. Sebastien Ogier/ Julien Ingrassia
2. Mads Ostberg/ Jonas Andersson + 1:18.8
3. Andreas Mikkelsen/ Ola Floene + 1:25.1
4. Elfyn Evans/ Daniel Barritt + 3:40.2
5. Dani Sordo/ Marc Marti +5:01.8
6. Martin Prokop/ Jan Tomanek +6:36.1
7. Thierry Neuville/ Nicolas Gilsoul +22:43.3
8. Benito Guerra Jr./ Borja Rozada +26:56.3
9. Jari Matti Latvala/ Mikka Antilla + 48:48.6
10. Kris Meeke/ Paul Nagle + 51:50.3
