OGIER WINS FOR SEVENTH TIME IN MÉXICO; GREENSMITH ON TOP IN WRC2
A flying Ott Tänak set the target time of 5min 16.901sec and he managed to beat Dani Sordo by 2.69 seconds to stay out in front with four cars still to run. Kalle Rovanperä damaged his rear wing, lost downforce and was not able to match the Estonian’s time. He slotted in between Tänak and Sordo.
Neuville slotted into second. Elfyn Evans headed into the stage after changing a steering arm. The Welshman was not able to hang on, however, and finished four-tenths of a second behind the Belgian and slipped to third overall. Sébastien Ogier, with no real need to push hard other than to deprive Tänak and Neuville of vital points, finished the stage with the fastest time to confirm a seventh victory in México by 27.5 seconds in superb style.
Gus Greensmith and Jonas Andersson finished in an excellent sixth overall and first in WRC2 in their
new Toksport Škoda Fabia RS.
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“Nothing much to say. Hopefully we will not repeat this one any more. It’s not a weekend to forget. We
need to make some changes. We are not continuing in this way.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“I cannot be happy. I lost the rear wing when going wide. We didn’t have any downforce. It was not the
weekend like we expected. I wanted more from the Power Stage but we are here.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“I did what I could. I can tell you all weekend we were on the limit, It was really exhausting. We fight hard.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“It’s not a surprise. We have been nursing a bent suspension arm since the first stage this morning. It
is a shame. It’s how it is.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“The car was great this weekend, a faultless weekend for us. It was important to get points there. Elfyn
was really unlucky that he had to finish the rally with a damaged car. Still, it was a strong weekend fo
the team. Today this win is for our team and for a friend who I lost not long ago.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“I made a nasty one mistake on a hairpin. I enjoyed the stage and sorry fro the upset on the Friday for
the team. The power is amazing and I was not able to use it. Hopefully the next time I can use it and
we have a better result.”
Car 7. LOUBET/GILSOUL
“It’s been a tough weekend. A bit of mistake of my driving and some bad luck but we take some
experience and a big thanks to everybody. We will have some better days.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“I feel good. I enjoyed the stages. I didn’t want to make a mistake at the same time. Now we need to
wait untl the next one in Portugal.”
Car 9. SERDERIDIS/MICLOTTE
“Happy with the weekend because it is a beautiful and difficult rally. We learned a lot. It is still positive.”
Car 20. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“From stage six the whole rally was under control for me. When we needed to go faster we could and
we didn’t put a foot wrong. We didn’t have much time to get used to this new car and it’s a perfect start
to the year.”
Car 21. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“I had a compression on the previous stage and nothing too bad. But we were on three cylinders. After
the stage we couldn’t find anything. Unfortunately, we don’t have the tools to properly change the spark
plugs. I have been fighting hard and pushed as hard as I could. It has been a very enjoyable weekend
and it is feels very easy and that is important and that makes you smile. P3 is actually great for the
championship anyway.”
Car 24. LINDHOLM/HÄMÄLÄINEN
“Not an easy weekend but the result was within what we wanted. It was more or less because others
had problems. Obviously good points for the championship and many lessons learned.”
Car 25. KAJETANOWICZ/SZCZEPANIAK
“I want to do two days more. That was incredible. We couldn’t do much more on this one as we were
cleaning a lot. There is no line so you could be everywhere and it was fun.”
