SS2 : Ogier fastest to take Mexico lead

Sebastien Ogier has gone fastest on Friday’s opening stage to move into the lead of Rally Guanajuato Mexico.

Driving a Citroen DS3 WRC, Ogier - who was running fourth on the road - benefitted from a cleaner road surface created by the cars running further up the order effectively sweeping away the loose gravel to reveal a harder and more stable surface beneath.

“It’s quite normal thanks to my road position,” said Ogier at the stage finish. “It was a normal stage, no problem. We missed a lot of power on this stage [because of the altitude], it’s so slow but it’s like this.”

World champion Sebastien Loeb was second fastest in his DS3 WRC. He said: “It was okay, no problem. We had a good stage, no mistakes. For sure it’s cleaning more and more and we see some lines but we don’t have so much power.”

Petter Solberg, who led overnight, has slipped to third in his Petter Solberg World Rally Team DS3 WRC. “It’s the first day so you have to be a little bit smarter,” said Solberg. “The lack of power is unbelievable but it’s the same for everybody. You have to work really hard to keep up the speed.”

Jari-Matti Latvala was the fastest Ford driver through the stage in fourth overall: “It’s not cleaning so much as we expected because we have less power with this car than last year,” said the Finn. “I could be going faster but we are the first time on gravel with the new tyres and the new car.”

World championship leader Mikko Hirvonen was first through the stage in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC and was hampered by having to clean the loose surface gravel for the drivers running behind.

“It’s tricky, it’s slippery,” said Hirvonen, who was fifth quickest. “It’s the first gravel rally for the car and with the engine down on power I feel I’m not carrying the right speed in the corners. I’ll do what I can.”

Mads Ostberg was eight minutes late starting the stage in his M-Sport Sobart Fiesta while spectators relocated to designated safety zones. After completing the run with the sixth fastest time, Ostberg said: “It didn’t feel too bad. I decided to be very cautious on the first stage. I’m comfortable and I can push quite a lot more and will still be comfortable.”

Federico Villagra hit trouble on the stage, taking a wheel off his Munchi’s Ford Fiesta after approximately 10 kilometres and is unlikely to go any further on day one.