The French crew of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were firmly in control of the 11th Rally Guanajuato Corona, round three of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship, after 18 timed special stages on Saturday evening.
The Volkswagen Polo R WRC crew won five of the day’s seven drama-filled specials and extended their overnight lead of 26.1sec to 1min 00.3sec with just four stages remaining on Sunday. “I needed to control my pace, keep my concentration all the time and take no risks,” admitted the defending World Champion.
The Norwegian duo of Mads Østberg and Andreas Mikkelsen and Poland’s Robert Kubica blotted their copybooks in the first of the two runs through the Otatitos stage on Saturday morning. Mikkelsen and Kubica crashed out for the second successive day and Østberg clouted a bank, damaged the rear suspension of his Citroën DS3 WRC, lost second overall and was forced out on the subsequent road section when emergency repairs failed. Roll cage damage means that Kubica will not restart on Sunday.
Ogier’s Finnish team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala inherited second when Østberg retired and the WRC leader stayed out of trouble over the remaining stages of the day to reach León in a comfortable second.
The Hyundai Shell World Rally Team enjoyed their best day of the WRC season so far. Belgian Thierry Neuville passed Elfyn Evans on the first loop of two stages and reached the end of the day in a superb third overall, 47.0sec in front of the more cautious Welshman. Team-mate Chris Atkinson also put Friday’s woes behind him and the Australian reached the Rally Campus in León in seventh overall in the second of the i20 WRCs.
Martin Prokop was quietly going about his business without making mistakes and the Jipocar Czech National Team driver was classified in fifth place with his Ford Fiesta R5 WRC, despite minor brake issues.
Mexico’s Benito Guerra remained on course to please his sponsors and seal an extension to his WRC programme in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC by holding sixth position, despite clouting a tree on the second run through Otatitos, denting a door and bruising his elbow.
Ukraine’s Yuriy Protasov maintained his runaway lead in the WRC 2 category. He began the day with a massive advantage over Italy’s Lorenzo Bertelli and, when the Italian rolled out of contention on the morning loop, Protasov noticeably eased his pace with power steering issues and reached the end of the day with an even bigger lead over Italian Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X driver Massimiliano Rendina.
Mikko Hirvonen and Kris Meeke restarted on Saturday under the Rally 2 regulation and set some competitive stage times during the course of the day to hold eighth and ninth. Hirvonen passed Protasov in SS15 and Meeke did likewise in El Brinco 1 to push the Ukraine driver down to 10th, even though the Dungannon driver survived a 360-degree spin in the first of the 2.21km super specials and then set the fastest time in the next one.
The French crew of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were firmly in control of the 11th Rally Guanajuato Corona, round three of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship, after 18 timed special stages on Saturday evening.
The Volkswagen Polo R WRC crew won five of the day’s seven drama-filled specials and extended their overnight lead of 26.1sec to 1min 00.3sec with just four stages remaining on Sunday. “I needed to control my pace, keep my concentration all the time and take no risks,” admitted the defending World Champion.
The Norwegian duo of Mads Østberg and Andreas Mikkelsen and Poland’s Robert Kubica blotted their copybooks in the first of the two runs through the Otatitos stage on Saturday morning. Mikkelsen and Kubica crashed out for the second successive day and Østberg clouted a bank, damaged the rear suspension of his Citroën DS3 WRC, lost second overall and was forced out on the subsequent road section when emergency repairs failed. Roll cage damage means that Kubica will not restart on Sunday.
Ogier’s Finnish team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala inherited second when Østberg retired and the WRC leader stayed out of trouble over the remaining stages of the day to reach León in a comfortable second.
The Hyundai Shell World Rally Team enjoyed their best day of the WRC season so far. Belgian Thierry Neuville passed Elfyn Evans on the first loop of two stages and reached the end of the day in a superb third overall, 47.0sec in front of the more cautious Welshman. Team-mate Chris Atkinson also put Friday’s woes behind him and the Australian reached the Rally Campus in León in seventh overall in the second of the i20 WRCs.
Martin Prokop was quietly going about his business without making mistakes and the Jipocar Czech National Team driver was classified in fifth place with his Ford Fiesta R5 WRC, despite minor brake issues.
Mexico’s Benito Guerra remained on course to please his sponsors and seal an extension to his WRC programme in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC by holding sixth position, despite clouting a tree on the second run through Otatitos, denting a door and bruising his elbow.
Ukraine’s Yuriy Protasov maintained his runaway lead in the WRC 2 category. He began the day with a massive advantage over Italy’s Lorenzo Bertelli and, when the Italian rolled out of contention on the morning loop, Protasov noticeably eased his pace with power steering issues and reached the end of the day with an even bigger lead over Italian Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X driver Massimiliano Rendina.
Mikko Hirvonen and Kris Meeke restarted on Saturday under the Rally 2 regulation and set some competitive stage times during the course of the day to hold eighth and ninth. Hirvonen passed Protasov in SS15 and Meeke did likewise in El Brinco 1 to push the Ukraine driver down to 10th, even though the Dungannon driver survived a 360-degree spin in the first of the 2.21km super specials and then set the fastest time in the next one.