WRC: Sébastien Ogier wins in Mexico as well
Second victory in a row: After taking first place in Sweden, the Volkswagen factory drivers Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia won again at Rally Mexico. The Frenchmen who in their Volkswagen Polo R WRC rely on a two-plate clutch and dampers from ZF ultimately took the lead at the third WRC round after the sixth special stage. In total, Ogier/Ingrassia managed to set 16 fastest times on 23 special stages of the demanding gravel rally. At the finish, they had more than a three-minute lead over Mikko Hirvonen, the overall runner-up. Thanks to their second success of the season plus three bonus points awarded for winning the power stage the French duo extended its lead of the standings.
Misfortune struck Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila in the second Volkswagen Polo R WRC. They suffered suspension damage on the second day of the rally. Although the Finns resumed the third WRC round according to Rally 2 regulations they were unable to do better than 16th place overall. By taking third place on the power stage they still scored one Championship point though.
Results, Rally Mexico (MEX), round 3, FIA World Rally Championship, 07 March -10 March 2013:
1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia, Volkswagen, 4h 30m27.0s, ZF
2 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen, Citroën, + 3m 28.9s
3 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul, Ford, + 4m 23.8s
4 Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio, Citroën, + 6m 06.7s
5 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernacchini, Ford, + 8m 34.5s
6 Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot, Citroën, + 11m 28.0s
7 Ken Block/Alex Gelsomino, Ford, + 11m 48.3s
8 Benito Guerra/Borja Rozada, Citroën, + 12m 49.8s
9 Martin Prokop/Michał Ernst, Ford, + 14m 29.0s
10 Evgeny Novikov/Ilka Minor, Ford, + 17m 15.3s
Drivers’ championship:
1 S. Ogier, 74 points; 2 S. Loeb, 43; 3 M. Hirvonen, 30; 4 D. Sordo, 27; 5 M. Østberg, 26; 6 T. Neuville, 25; 7 J. Latvala, 15; 8 M. Prokop, 14; 9 B. Bouffier and N. Al-Attiyah, 10 each.
Constructors’ championship:
1 Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT, 87 points; 2 Volkswagen Motorsport, 81; 3 Qatar M-Sport WRT, 37; 4 Qatar WRC, 35; 5 Abu Dhabi Citroen Total WRT, 23; 6 Jipocar Czech National Team, 14; 7 Lotus WRC Team, 12.