Rally Mexico: Lappi takes over as Ogier trails just behind
18th March 2023Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi leads the 2023 Mexico Rally, on the second day of running, 5.3 seconds ahead of Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier in second – who is chasing a record-breaking win in Central America.
Seven stages lined up the second day of running, bringing the total mileage to 128.01km in special stages.
Running got underway with the first loop of the morning which consisted of El Chocolate, Ortega and Las Minas. The field was to run this loop again in the afternoon, in the same order.
The final two stages of the day consisted of two superspecial stages (Las Dunas Superspecial – SSS9) and (Distrito Leon MX SSS – SSS10)
M-Sport woes
The current championship leader, and M-Sport Ford driver, Ott Tanak opened up the road on the second day of running. However, the Estonian soon suffered mechanical issues on the first El Chocolate stage as his turbo system gave out mid-stage.
Tanak soon pulled over to the side of the road to allow the likes of Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) to pass on through without issue.
The Ford driver quickly went into action as he opened up the bonnet in an attempt to identify – and fix – the issue. While Tanak was able to continue on, his car was not going full-send through the opening course of the day.
In the following two stages, the Estonian basically walked through the countryside as he nursed his Puma back to the service park.
The second day got worse for the Ford team as Peirre-Louis Loubet clattered a rock on the inside line of a right-hand bend. It sent the Frenchman’s Ford into a spin and facing the wrong way. Fortunately, Loubet was able to rotate his car back around slowly but the French/Belgian pairing were forced to stop out on stage.
Jourdan Serdiridis rounded out the horrid day for M-Sport as the Greek driver was found facing the wrong way on the El Chocolate 1 stage. The nearby crowd attempted their best to get Serdiridis’ car out of the way to allow the WRC2 driver, Gus Greensmith, a way through as the stage was quickly red-flagged.
By the end of the opening stage, only eight drivers had completed the first El Chocolate Special Stage.
Hyundai’s momentum
Following on from M-Sport’s misfortunes, Hyundai were the ones to benefit, Lappi became the new rally leader after SS3 with 1.2 seconds in hand over Toyota’s returning Sebastien Ogier who was in second.
After the El Chocolate 1, Daniel Sordo rounded out the top three just 7.3-seconds behind his teammate. In stage seven, the Spaniard soon began to fill up with dust, the driver carried rear-left damage which allowed the dust to enter the cabin. By the end of the day, Sordo dropped down to
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville fell down to fifth place after the opening loop. The Belgian suffered a hybrid power issue after his i20 nearly flipped over itself as the Belgian pairing hit a bump in the high-speed section of SS4 (Ortega).
The Belgian was able to bring his car to the end of the stage where he discussed the bump, he said:
“It was crazy and very very painful. We didn’t expect that to be honest, it came like a surprise. I thought we were going to go off because the car was flying like this, I could see only the road and it’s in a really fast section.
“Luckily we are here and the car is working more or less.”
By the end of the second day, Nueville readjusted and found himself in P4: +39.8s adrift of Lappi.
Ogier remains in the chase
Ogier remains within reach of securing his record-breaking seventh win in Mexico, to go one clear of his current tie with the WRC legend Sebastien Loeb. The eight-time WRC world champion, finished the day in second place just 5.3 seconds behind the leading Hyundai of Lappi.
Toyota’s Welshman, Elfyn Evans, rounded out the top three behind his teammate, 30.1 seconds away from Lappi’s time.
Unfortunately, Toyota suffered issues with a couple of its drivers on the second day.
Rovanpera suffered hybrid issues on stage five and finished the day in fifth place. Later on, on stage eight, Takamoto Katsuta lost the back end of his Yaris into a fast, left-hand kink.
The Japanese driver was unable to straighten his car back up and veered off the side of the road and down a bank. Fortunately, both Katsuta and his co-driver, Aaron Johnston, were okay and uninjured.
Top five
- Esapekka Lappi, Hyundai – 1:25:12.0
- Sebastien Ogier, Toyota – +5.3
- Elfyn Evans, Toyota – +30.1
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai – +39.8
- Kalle Rovanpera, Toyota – +59.7
That’s all for the article; Rally Mexico: Lappi takes over as Ogier trails just behind!
Who do you think will be the rally leader after Saturday’s running? Let us know in the comments!
Read more WRC here:
- Rally Mexico: Tanak dominates opening stages to take early lead
- 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
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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.
