A complete disaster. M-Sport lost both of its drivers in El Chocolate 1, the first round on Friday at Rally Mexico, as well as PS3 after the two disputed during the Italian night.
Although Ott Tanak hasn’t retired yet, it is clear that the result of this first special stage of the day immediately took him out of the fight for victory and the podium. The Estonian, leader of the World Championship, lost over 7 minutes due to a turbo failure on the Ford Puma Rally1 of the M-Sport team.
Tanak stopped between the second and third sectors to try to fix the problem. After a few minutes, also thanks to the help of his navigator Martin Jarveoja, he succeeded in his intention. The two set off again, but the pace was no longer as competitive as it was at the beginning of the test.
Furthermore, Tanak lost further minutes to give precedence to Thierry Neuville, who was approaching and to avoid ending up in the dust he preferred to give way without hindering him.
M-Sport’s tremendous ordeal continued with Pierre-Louis Loubet. The Frenchman, making his first appearance in Mexico with M-Sport, hit a rock with the right front wheel, breaking the steering arm.
For this reason he was forced to park on board the test and retire. Completing the tremendous start to the race for the British team was the retirement of Jourdan Serderidis. The dynamics of his accident are not clear, but his private Puma blocked the route and the marshals found themselves forced to display the red flag.
In all of this, Esapekka Lappi won the special stage with a margin of just 6 tenths over Sébastien Ogier. Both will aim for victory this weekend, because they can count on an enviable starting position.
The Hyundai Motorsport driver is also the new leader of the Mexico Rally, with a 1″2 advantage over the 8-times world champion. Behind them, the gaps immediately became very heavy. Dani Sordo, third in qualifying, is also third overall ahead of Elfyn Evans.
Thierry Neuville closes the Top 5, who now will only have to close the event in front of Kalle Rovanpera to try to gain points on his rival for the title. The reigning world champion signed the sixth time, but now he will be forced to open all the day’s specials if Tanak decides to retire for the day.
Kalle also took a big risk in the last sector, losing the rear of his GR Yaris Rally1 in a right-hand bend. The surface, not clean due to Tanak’s missed passage, mocked him, but the Japanese car held up enough to avoid a strong impact against an embankment.
