Sebastien Ogier secured his second consecutive win of the season following a commanding victory in Mexico this evening.
Despite losing 17 seconds to Citroen rival Mikko Hirvonen on the final day’s first special stage, Ogier’s lead remained intact as he went quickest on the final two special stages to claim victory by a 3-minute margin from Hirvonen; the 40 seconds he lost yesterday after encountering a closed gate, were handed back to him today by the officials.
Hirvonen finished second, followed by Thierry Neuville who pledged to attack the former, but fell back as he slipped off the road and into a ditch on SS21.
Dani Sordo settled for a fourth-place finish ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah who crossed the line in fifth – one position shy from his career-best fourth place in Rally de Portugal last season.
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari dominated WRC2 all weekend.
Results after SS23: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen 4h30m27.0s 2. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 3m28.9s 3. Thierry Neuville M-Sport Ford + 4m23.8s 4. Dani Sordo Citroen + 6m06.7s 5. Nasser Al-Attiyah M-Sport Ford + 8m34.5s 6. Chris Atkinson Abu Dhabi Citroen + 11m28.0s 7. Ken Block Hoonigan Ford + 11m48.3s 8. Benito Guerra CRT Citroen + 12m49.8s 9. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 14m29.0s 10. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 17m15.3s