WRC Rally Mexico: Andreas Mikkelsen leads Sebastien Ogier – WRC

Andreas Mikkelsen has taken an early lead on Rally Mexico over World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier, while Mikkelsen’s Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville suffered a puncture and is only ninth.

Stage wins on both El Chocolate, the longest stage of the rally, and the short Leon city stage handed Mikkelsen a 1.6-second advantage over second-placed Ogier, who had set the pace on the Ortega test.

Ogier coped with an early running order position and the consequent lack of grip well in comparison to his title rivals Neuville and championship leader Ott Tanak, who both languished at the lower end of the points.

Neuville encountered trouble barely three miles into El Chocolate, hitting a stone that the Belgian suggested had been dragged into his path by Tanak – who had started ahead of him.

Hyundai’s main contender for the drivers’ championship sustained a puncture to his rear left wheel, with Neuville dropping 44.1s to team-mate Mikkelsen and going down to ninth place.

Teemu Suninen crashed out on the same stage, sustaining heavy impact to his Ford Fiesta WRC’s front right corner after an impact and becoming stuck nose-first on the edge of a small drop at the side of the road.

WRC returnee Dani Sordo, who sat out the Monte Carlo Rally and Rally Sweden in his seat-sharing arrangement with Sebastien Loeb, benefited from running last of the top class on the road and having the rest of the field ahead of him to clean the loose gravel surface.

He remains in touch with leading pair Mikkelsen and Ogier, only 2.7s off the front.

M-Sport’s sole remaining driver Elfyn Evans moved up to fourth on Ortega, demoting lead Toyota driver Kris Meeke to fifth place. The pair are separated by 1.5s after the Friday morning loop.

Meeke’s team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala is sixth, 7.5s behind Meeke and engaged in a battle with former team-mate Esapekka Lappi.

Citroen’s second driver was overnight leader after winning Thursday evening’s Guanajuato superspecial but immediately dropped back to seventh, 3.4s off Latvala.

Tanak struggled for traction, bearing the brunt of sweeping loose gravel away as first car on the road and settling into eighth position.

The championship leader was only prevented from ending the loop last of the WRC runners by Neuville’s puncture, though the gap between the pair held relatively steady after El Chocolate and now stands at 21.7s.

Leading positions after SS4