Do fairytales really happen? Well, they certainly seem to on this year’s Rally Mexico…
With former nine-time WRC champ Seb Loeb back in action on his first WRC event since Rally Monte Carlo in 2015 and the first time he has rallied on gravel since May 2013, he has shown everyone that he is anything but rusty as he pulled into parc fermé last night in a solid second place, just 7.2s behind rally leader Dani Sordo.
Earlier in the afternoon, the French superstar trailed Sordo’s Hyundai i20 WRC by nearly 18s but two consecutive stage wins put Loeb and Elena in their Citroën C3 WRC firmly into second place overall. It could have been the lead had Loeb not overshot a corner earlier in the day, losing him around 20s.
“I didn’t see a junction because I was looking further ahead and I was too late on the brakes,” Loeb said. “It was a very good day for me. I didn’t know what to expect but we’re here and that’s great news.”
Both Loeb and Sordo benefited from good starting positions in the hot and high mountain stages around León as earlier starters including WRC points leader Thierry Neuville and second placed reigning WRC champ Sébastien Ogier swept the stages clean for those running behind them.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Spaniard after he made a mistake in tyre choice, opting for a mixture of the hard and soft compounds as opposed to most drivers sticking to the harder compounds only.
“I think we made a small mistake with the tyres,” the number three Hyundai driver said. “We were struggling all the time. The traction was okay but the lateral grip was nothing. We took a risk and it's like this.”
Chasing the pair at the front was Toyota’s Ott Tänak who had his own problems with an overheating Toyota Yaris but held onto the pair, just 3.8s behind Loeb at the end of the day.
Tänak was being chased down by Loeb’s Citroën teammate Kris Meeke who was 14s behind but chasing hard after a solid win on stage six which put the Ulsterman back in the hunt after dropping back earlier with two spins while in the lead on Friday morning.
It was a day of hell WRC points leader Thierry Neuville who ran first on the road having to sweep the loose gravel plus deal with problems on his Hyundai i20 WRC. He lost more than 20 seconds with a fuel pressure problem before a power steering issue cost the Belgian even more time. He starts day two in seventh, 2m 01.9s behind Sordo.
Reigning WRC champ Seb Ogier fared only slightly better than Neuville as he too was clearing the gravel, running second on the road. But he persevered and came back with a stage win on the last stage of the day and will start on Saturday in fifth place, 30.2s off the leader.
High temperatures and arduous conditions made it a day of attrition. Elfyn Evans rolled out of third and will not restart on Saturday as co-driver Dan Barritt has concussion. Team-mate Teemu Suninen retired after hitting a barrier in his Fiesta.
Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Esapekka Lappi struggled with overheating initially. Worse followed when Lappi crashed out and his fellow Finn stopped with alternator problems.
Saturday brings another tough day containing 140.35km of action. Two identical loops of three gravel tests north and east of León are punctuated by three asphalt sprint stages.
Top 10 after Day 1:
1. Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 1h 47m 55.4s
2. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroën C3 WRC) +7.2s
3. Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +11.0s
4. Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Citroën C3 WRC) +25.0s
5. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +30.2s
6. Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +31.7s
7. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +2m01.9s
8. Pontus Tidemand/Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia R5) +5m05.6s
9. Gus Greensmith/Craig Parry (Ford Fiesta R5) +8m13.0s
10. Pedro Heller/Pablo Olmos (Ford Fiesta R5) +12m33.8s
