Rally Mexico: Tanak dominates opening stages to take early lead
17th March 2023Ott Tanak dominated the opening day of the 2023 Guanajuato Rally Mexico as the M-Sport Ford driver topped the timing sheets with a time of 1:54.2.
The opening day of the Mexican rally consisted of two street stages: GTO 1 and GTO 2. These two stages, on Thursday, consisted of the shortest runs of the weekend with 1.12km per stage, totaling 2.24km.
How the first day unfolded…
The Estonian gained the early lead of the rally going faster than anyone else in both of the opening stages. Tanak outpaced Toyota’s defending world champion, Kalle Rovanpera, by 0.8s on the first run and 0.9s on the second pass.
By the end of the first day, Tanak topped the timing sheets with a time of 1:54.2, 1.7s faster than Rovanpera.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi rounds out the top three, 2.2 seconds behind the leading Ford, with a showcase of talent as he nudged the inner kerb of the roundabout, of which the drivers had to navigate around twice on both runs.
Thierry Neuville lined up in fourth place alongside Toyota’s Sebasiten Ogier, in fifth, as the two locked in the same overall time on the board: +2.8s behind Tanak.
Keeping in humble spirits, after the second stage, Ogier said:
“The real start of the rally is tomorrow [Friday]. About tonight, it’s all about enjoying the atmosphere and staying away from the kerb.
“Tomorrow is where we need to start pushing.”
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans leads the remaining WRC drivers in sixth (+3.3s) ahead of Daniel Sordo (Hyundai), Pierre-Louis Loubet (Ford) and Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) who were; seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.
Further down the field, Ford’s Jourdan Serderidis finished the day in 17th amongst the WRC2 contenders, 12.9 seconds off the pace.
Action continues on Friday at 14:48 (GMT) as the pack faces El Chocolate 1, the third stage of the weekend.
That’s all for the article; Rally Mexico: Tanak dominates opening stages to take early lead!
What did you think of Tanak’s opening performance? Let us know in the comments!
Read more WRC here:
- Oliver Solberg secures WRC2 victory in Rally Sweden
- Rally Sweden: Tanak secures Ford’s first win in 2023
- 2023 Rally Sweden: Tanak snatches lead away from Breen
- 2023 Rally Sweden: Breen leads Hyundai’s charge on second day
- Rovanpera sets unbeaten SS1 time in WRC Rally Sweden
- Rovanpera tops Rally Sweden Shakedown
Give us a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the latest news from the world of Motorsport! You can also support us on Patreon!
Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
