Paris (AFP)
A funny victory: Sébastien Ogier won his first success of the season in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and the first with Toyota in the Rally of Mexico, ended Saturday evening rather than Sunday due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Frenchman, who equaled the record of six victories in the event of his compatriot Sébastien Loeb, took the lead in the driver classification with 62 points, eight lengths ahead of the former leader, his British teammate Elfyn Evans.
Results - for his third race with Toyota, the first on earth, the favorite surface of the WRC - that the six-time world champion puts into perspective, however. "Of course, a victory is a victory, but this one is totally different from the others, because this competition should not have taken place! The protection of human life should be above all other interests", a responded Ogier. "If we put the fans in danger, the victory is worthless."
At the end of the 21st special (instead of 24), the one who took control on Friday morning ahead of the Estonian Ott Tänak (Hyundai), 2nd, and the Finnish Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Ford), 3rd.
If he hadn't damaged a suspension by hitting a stone on Friday morning, Tänak might have hoped for better. "We had the level of performance to win this weekend," said the Estonian, who joined Hyundai this winter and started the season with an impressive crash at the Rallye Monte-Carlo, before two successive second places in Sweden and Mexico . "Friday's incident is my fault, I take full responsibility for it."
- "Tricky" -
Evans is 4th and the third Toyota driver, the young prodigy Kalle Rovanperä, impressive in his discovery at 19 of the queen category, 5th. In three rounds, the Finn has always placed in the top 5 (5th in Monte-Carlo and 3rd in Sweden)!
At the end of a complicated rally for his Hyundai team (with also the retirement of the Spaniard Dani Sordo on engine overheating), the Belgian Thierry Neuville, who did not finish the day on Friday because of a electrical problem, is only sixteenth.
"There is no denying that this rally was tricky for us from many points of view, recognizes his main team Andrea Adamo. We should have finished in better positions and we have not been able to manage what I still allow to call a gain in performance of the car. "
"Is that enough? I don't know," continues the Italian. "We will have to analyze our errors to make sure that they do not happen again in the future."
In the manufacturers' classification, Toyota, which had previously suffered in Mexico because of overheating problems, now has a 21-point lead over Hyundai.
- Pandemic -
On Saturday, the third round of the season was cut short by its organizers, "in consultation with all the teams, the International Automobile Federation and the promoter of the WRC", due to the travel restrictions imposed following the new coronavirus pandemic.
The objective was to give officials, teams and fans time to return to their country "given the imminent closure of borders and airports due to the Covid-19," explained Patrick Suberville, rally director, at a press conference.
With more than 75 percent of the distance covered, the usual scale was awarded based on the final ranking, minus bonus points from the Power Stage, scheduled for Sunday, which was not contested.
After the cancellation of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix and the inaugural round of IndyCar on Friday, the Rally of Mexico was the only major motorsport event held this weekend.
The next round, which was to be held in Argentina from April 23 to 26, has been postponed to a date yet to be determined. In principle, it is then the Rally of Portugal which appears on the calendar from 21 to 24 May.
© 2020 AFP