WRC Rally Mexico: Ogier leads, Ostberg and Mikkelsen fight behind
Sebastien Ogier is on the brink of Rally Mexico victory as Mads Ostberg and Andreas Mikkelsen continue to engage in a fierce fight for second behind
The double World Rally champion's advantage remains more than a minute after a dominant Saturday in which nearest rival Jari-Matti Latvala dropped out and his next two adversaries became preoccupied by their own squabble.
Ostberg and Mikkelsen beat Ogier on the second running of Otates, but the Frenchman took his third and fourth stage wins of the day either side of that to continue what he called a "perfect rally" and retain complete control heading into Sunday's final trio of stages.
Behind, the fight for second remains fraught. Mikkelsen halved the deficit to Ostberg on Ibarrilla before Ostberg's SS16 victory nudged the gap back up to six seconds.
The Volkswagen man trimmed that by 0.3s on El Brinco, before they went up against each other on the superspecial. Mikkelsen prevailed again, cutting the gap to 4.5s and winning the stage in the process.
Fourth-placed M-Sport driver Elfyn Evans is on course to match his result from last year, which along with Germany 2014 remains the young Welshman's career-best WRC finish.
Evans started the day under pressure from Hyundai's Dani Sordo for fourth, but the Spaniard was unable to build on a stage victory in the morning when he suffered a puncture early in the afternoon.
That has dropped the leading i20 WRC within touching distance of Martin Prokop's privateer Ford, which runs an impressive sixth overall thanks to the high level of attrition the rally has produced so far.
Yuriy Protasov dropped out of seventh and the WRC2 lead after an engine problem on SS16, promoting Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah in his wake.
Of the Rally 2 returnees Thierry Neuville is the closest to the points, just over two minutes adrift in 11th, while Kris Meeke and Robert Kubica are over half an hour behind after suffering punctures late in the day to further compromise their respective rallies.
Two more drivers should re-enter the fray on Sunday, with Latvala's Polo WRC being repaired by the VW team in service and Ott Tanak's M-Sport Fiesta suitably dried out after its initial return following the Estonian's trip into a lake on Friday was thwarted by further mechanical problems.
AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live coverage from Rally Mexico resumes at 3.30pm UK time
New in-car footage of Tanak's lake crash:
LEADING POSITIONS AFTER SS18:
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