Date: Friday, March 17th
Day: 2 Flash N°: 10
Special stage: Distrito León MX SSS Distance: 1.30 km
Weather: Warm and sunny, 27°C
Road conditions: Dry with dust on the tarmac
LAPPI LEADS OVERNIGHT IN MÉXICO; SORDO FASTEST ON SHORT TARMAC STAGE
A short run through the Distrito León MX SSS rounded off a thrilling day. Dani Sordo snatched the stage win but Esapekka Lappi managed to keep a lead of 5.3 seconds to take into the night halt.
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“It was not too much to do with the road position, We had some other issues. Let’s see now. We are
struggling to match the R5s, It would be nice if we could find some more pace.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“I am pretty happy with that, On previous years there has been more time lost on the first day. When
you have low engine power here you feel the hybrid much more. Now the starting place is better and
we need to try to use it well.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“I have mostly been working on the car. We had a broken front-left driveshaft boot and we were
frightened that it was going to break because most of the grease had gone. We are lucky to be here.
We expected more from the day. We lost the hybrid, the cleaning, it is the máximum we could do.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“It has been okay, not as fast as we would have liked. There is always a balance between pushing and
looking after things. There is a long way to go.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“It has been a good day not so much more we could do except taking risks and that is not the approach
I like to take on this rally. I am satisfied. Well done to him (Lappi) for today. We still have some work to
do to see if we can find some more pace for tomorrow.”
Car 4. LAPPI/FERM
“I hoped that I could fight at the top but to be leading and to be fighting all the time against Seb was not
in my mind to be honest, I was confident that our pace would be good. Probably one of the best days
of my career. We did a lot of work between Monte-Carlo and Sweden and we have been searching for
the good set-up and that helps.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“After the puncture we lost all our chances. It was a nice day in general. Now, honestly, the first day is
not the day to make something and now we start in the front.”
Car 20. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“The morning was a bit tricky. The tyres were overheating too much and it was quite rocky. Once I put
the hard tyres on, it was okay. It’s a nice lead but it’s not a big lead. Trying to be tidy but it is a just a
shame we didn’t have any soft tyres for the super specials because it killed our time. Tyre wear should
not be such an issue tomorrow.”