The French crew of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia stayed clear of trouble on the final morning of the 11th Rally Guanajuato Corona to seal a second successive victory in the Mexican event and move to the top of the points’ standings in the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship.
Leading by 1min 00.3sec at the start of the final morning’s four timed special stages, the Volkswagen Polo R WRC crew won two more tests to confirm a winning margin over team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila of 1min 12.6sec. The result was also Latvala’s best ever result in Mexico.
Ogier’s second Mexican win duly made him the equal ninth most successful driver in the history of the championship with 18 victories. The Frenchman duly surpassed Miki Biasion’s total of 17 successes and equalled the legendary Finn Hannu Mikkola, although Ogier still has some way to go to match former team-mate Sébastien Loeb’s stunning record of 78 WRC wins.
“It was a perfect week,” said Ogier. “I came here very angry after what happened in Sweden. The car was perfect, very strong and very fast. I am very happy.”
The Hyundai Shell World Rally Team confirmed a totally unexpected podium finish on only their third WRC event since returning to the championship with the i20 WRC. Belgian Thierry Neuville held his nerve and avoided mistakes to confirm a fine third position with co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul.
The podium finish marked a little piece of history for the Korean manufacturer. It was their first top three success in the history of the WRC and bettered a pair of previous fourth-placed finishes for Kenneth Eriksson (Rally Australia – 2000) and Alister McRae (Wales Rally GB – 2001). Australia’s Chris Atkinson finished a solid seventh in the second car.
“The car ran without any problems. There are a lot of points we still need to work on, but this bodes so well for the future,” said a delighted Neuville, who suffered a scare after the final stage and was forced to stop on the road section back to León with radiator and overheating issues before reaching the time control, courtesy of water and Corona beer being added to the radiator.
Welshman Elfyn Evans kept his composure and avoided becoming embroiled in a scrap with Neuville over the closing stages to confirm fourth place in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC for the M-Sport World Rally Team. “We made good progress this week and I can look forward to Portugal now.”
Martin Prokop survived a frightening moment in the marathon Guanajuatito special to bring his Jipocar Czech National Team-entered Ford Fiesta RS WRC to the finish in fifth overall. “This was a very tough rally and this result is amazing for us,” said the Czech.
Mexican Benito Guerra delighted the myriad of home fans with a sixth-placed finish. “I am really happy with this result and I am sure it will be really positive for the sponsors. I hope now that I will be able to do the rally in Argentina,” said Guerra.
Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen and Citroën’s Kris Meeke recovered well from first day woes and benefited from the Rally 2 ruling to hold eighth and ninth overall. But Meeke clipped a rock on the final stage, damaged the DS3’s steering and was forced to retire in dramatic circumstances. Hirvonen confirmed eighth position.
Norwegian driver Mads Østberg, who had led for a time on the first morning before losing second position on Saturday’s first stage, was quickest overall through Guanajuatito on Sunday morning and finished ninth in the second Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team DS3 WRC.
Ukraine’s Yuriy Protasov began the final day with a massive lead in WRC 2 over Max Rendina of Italy and the Ford Fiesta R5 WRC driver needed to maintain his concentration over the closing four stages without making mistakes to extend his lead in the championship. A broken front driveshaft gave Protasov a late scare, but he finished 10th.
Ott Tanak set some useful stage times during the day but, like Peruvian Nicolas Fuchs, the Estonian had blotted his copybook earlier in the rally and was too far behind to make a WRC 2 challenge. Mexican driver Ricardo Cordero was the highest-placed of the Group N finishers in 12th overall.