March 8, 2015 – Sebastien Ogier will take a lead of 1 min 15.2 seconds into Sunday’s final leg of Rally Mexico after a mistake by teammate Jari-Matti Latvala left him in the clear.
The Volkswagen Polo R colleagues were split by less than 14 seconds when Latvala hit a bank midway through the 42.90km Otates test (SS12) and ripped the rear left wheel from his car. He limped to the end of the stage before retiring.
It left Ogier with room to breathe ahead of the developing battle between Mads Østberg and Andreas Mikkelsen. However, the Frenchman added four stage victories to his tally from the eight tests, most over gravel roads in the mountains above León.
> Rally Mexico 2015 – Day 1: Ogier leads VW 1-2
Østberg put second place in jeopardy when he spun his DS 3 in SS13 and lost 15sec after damaging his front suspension in the previous stage. He slipped into the clutches of Andreas Mikkelsen but a stage win this afternoon kept him ahead by 4.5sec.
Elfyn Evans was fourth in a Ford Fiesta RS. The Welshman admitted he was too hesitant in places as Dani Sordo closed. But when the Spaniard lost a minute after hitting stones and breaking his Hyundai i20’s front left wheel, Evans could relax.
Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah leads the WRC2 from seventh place overall, with fellow countryman Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari more than 9 minutes behind in 10th place overall and chasing after Jari Ketomaa.
