WRC Rally Mexico
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Prokop is at the finish, third fastest on the powerstage behind Bertelli and Camilli, and seventh in the rally overall on his WRC return.
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Meanwhile, M-Sport is celebrating its run of 200 rallies in the points with tweets that give us retro pic excuses. And we do not waste those.
Stopwatch
Bertelli takes a temporary top spot on the stage, nine tenths quicker than Camilli. And a decent eighth overall for him too.
Tanak is fastest so far on the splits - but we still have two Hyundais, two VWs and Ostberg to come.
Tanak is fastest so far on the splits - but we still have two Hyundais, two VWs and Ostberg to come.
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Despite being up on the split, Guerra reaches the finish 3.6s down on Camilli.
"It was a good rally yesterday. Today I didn't feel the confidence to go flat. But I'm happy," is Guerra's summary. For him just getting to compete in front of his home fans in a World Rally Car is a massive deal.
"It was a good rally yesterday. Today I didn't feel the confidence to go flat. But I'm happy," is Guerra's summary. For him just getting to compete in front of his home fans in a World Rally Car is a massive deal.
Prokop has passed the split equal third fastest with Camilli behind Guerra and Bertelli. Tanak has set off.
Anyway, Guerra has reached the finish.
If you're in a VW Polo R WRC, you really, really don't want to be outside the top three in the championship. And with all Hyundai's big ambitions, its trio will all want to be getting among the VWs - or at least two of them. And the incessantly consistent Ostberg is sat racking up in the points in the middle of it all.
So there you go, massive thrilling battle for second in the championship brewing, right?
So there you go, massive thrilling battle for second in the championship brewing, right?
Ignoring powerstage bonuses for now, and assuming no one bins it in the next half hour, here's how the points provisionally look based on the current order:
1 Ogier 74
(yeah, ignore him, too far ahead)
2 Ostberg 39
3 Mikkelsen 33
4 Sordo 33
5 Paddon 28
6 Latvala 25
7 Tanak 24
That looks to us like four drivers fighting for 'best of the rest', covered by 14 points - and then there's Neuville on 15 and part-timer Kris Meeke on a far-lower-than-deserved one point.
1 Ogier 74
(yeah, ignore him, too far ahead)
2 Ostberg 39
3 Mikkelsen 33
4 Sordo 33
5 Paddon 28
6 Latvala 25
7 Tanak 24
That looks to us like four drivers fighting for 'best of the rest', covered by 14 points - and then there's Neuville on 15 and part-timer Kris Meeke on a far-lower-than-deserved one point.
And this is where our spreadsheet comes in, but we realised this afternoon that while Ogier is leading the standings by approximately a month already, there's a nifty fight brewing for second in the standings.
Next man on the startline after Prokop is Tanak, who starts want you might think of as our serious runners.
Stopwatch
Bertelli is now the pacesetter among the midfielders in so far at the split, 1.5s up on Guerra. It would be a shock if any of this bunch was near a bonus point, though.
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Camilli has collected some manufacturers' points for M-Sport, which means...
Bertelli was even second briefly, holding that position after the street stage that opened the rally on Thursday night. He's a Pirelli runner, and the Italian rubber has proved mighty on superspecials on several occasions - Robert Kubica (we miss you in the WRC, Kubica) made good use of it many times.
Lorenzo Bertelli begins the stage. He's kept it together very nicely this weekend (failure to do so has often been his undoing in the past) and he'll collect a respectable ninth place for his swearily-named team.
Stopwatch
Fuchs will be faster than Suninen in WRC2 but the Finn's hardly going to be pushing with a 20-minute lead is he? Guerra is a few tenths ahead of fellow Rally2 man Camilli as the World Rally Cars hit the splits.
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Camilli's summary of his weekend: "I got a big experience from here, the first rally on gravel for me in the WRC. It was not so bad in the end - a lot of experience and a good feeling. We are happy."
But Guerra's car does look pretty nifty at least (XPB Images)
Guerra is the local hero, and for the last few years he's managed to secure a top-class WRC car for his home event. Two years ago he claimed an emotional career-best sixth place overall, but a shunt on Friday means this season's result will be a Rally2-assisted 13th place.
Camilli is near the stage finish, WRC2 men Fuchs and Suninen are in the middle of it, and just starting now is Benito Guerra.
Ta-da: Toni Gardemeister contesting Rally Mexico 2008 in the shortlived Suzuki World Rally Car (LAT Photographic)
Suninen's Skoda is run by TGS Worldwide, which is Toni Gardemeister's team. Is that a retro pic excuse? Of course it is.
Here's what Suninen's Skoda looks like (XPB Images)
Meanwhile, this has been a dominant weekend for Skoda-driving Toyota protege Teemu Suninen, who leads WRC2 by 20 minutes from Pole Hubert Ptaszek.
Incidentally Evans being in Wales today not Mexico won't damage his WRC2 title hopes - drivers only count their best six results so don't all contest the full season.
Possible correction to the running order - the timing system's start list for the day said we wouldn't get any WRC2 runners until after the leaders were through, but the splits page has Nicolas Fuchs and Suninen lining up next. And there is Fuchs' Skoda on the startline.
Meanwhile, the bloke who's no longer in that car followed up his WRC2 wins in Monte Carlo and Sweden by doing this back home in Wales today: 
Camilli is set to finish this one in 16th overall. There's little chance of any powerstage bonuses for him running first on the road, so his 2016 points tally will remain at zero for now.
Green flag
We're up and running with Camilli. A puncture on Friday and a shunt on Saturday mean his big break with M-Sport continues to stutter into life.
2) Mikkelsen. Not as big a shunt but more than VW could repair on site (McKlein)
1) Neuville. A shunt on Friday followed by a bigger shunt on Saturday. Not what he needed after that Monte Carlo breakthrough. (McKlein)
Drivers we'd have loved to still be watching but can't because they shunted yesterday...
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Here's the order in which they'll take to the stage:
Camilli (Rally2)
Guerra (Rally2)
Bertelli
Prokop
Tanak
Paddon
Ostberg
Sordo
Ogier
Latvala
Suninen
(Six WRC2 runners)
Gorban
Camilli (Rally2)
Guerra (Rally2)
Bertelli
Prokop
Tanak
Paddon
Ostberg
Sordo
Ogier
Latvala
Suninen
(Six WRC2 runners)
Gorban
Yes, the WRC doing its best to make Martin Prokop feel at home on his return from the Dakar Rally by producing a leaderboard with Dakar-esque gaps outside the top six.
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And this is how they stand going into it:
1 Latvala
2 Ogier +1m10.4s
3 Sordo +3m25.5s
4 Ostberg +5m27.9s
5 Paddon +6m17.6s
6 Tanak +9m32.2s
7 Prokop +12m28.6s
8 Bertelli +13m41.8s
9 Suninen +17m09.8s
10 Gorban +31m47.6s
1 Latvala
2 Ogier +1m10.4s
3 Sordo +3m25.5s
4 Ostberg +5m27.9s
5 Paddon +6m17.6s
6 Tanak +9m32.2s
7 Prokop +12m28.6s
8 Bertelli +13m41.8s
9 Suninen +17m09.8s
10 Gorban +31m47.6s
Information
In between dominating this rally, Latvala's also done a load of stage guides for us.
Here's what's coming up, in the rally leader's own words:
SS21 Agua Zarca (10.23 miles)
Very open all of the time. OK there's one section at the beginning which is quite smooth with medium-speed corners.
After five kilometres, you come to the section which is a little bit in the forest – it's very technical here with a lot of slow, uphill corners.
When you get out of this area, you are fast again across the top and then quite steep downhill with some nasty braking in off-camber corners; here you are holding a lot with the left foot on the brake.
After this it's a hairpin left down to the bottom of the valley and a junction-right around a house – the road is then running along the floor of the valley and it's wider and more flowing.
Then you come to the classic section: 300 metres straight, over the jump, through some hairpins and over the bridge, up again and then you come to a couple more jumps and over the finish.
Here's what's coming up, in the rally leader's own words:
SS21 Agua Zarca (10.23 miles)
Very open all of the time. OK there's one section at the beginning which is quite smooth with medium-speed corners.
After five kilometres, you come to the section which is a little bit in the forest – it's very technical here with a lot of slow, uphill corners.
When you get out of this area, you are fast again across the top and then quite steep downhill with some nasty braking in off-camber corners; here you are holding a lot with the left foot on the brake.
After this it's a hairpin left down to the bottom of the valley and a junction-right around a house – the road is then running along the floor of the valley and it's wider and more flowing.
Then you come to the classic section: 300 metres straight, over the jump, through some hairpins and over the bridge, up again and then you come to a couple more jumps and over the finish.
By: Matt Beer
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