How the WRC's main man ignited the title race

In becoming the third different winner in as many World Rally Championship rounds this season, Sebastien Ogier's first victory for Toyota on Rally Mexico ensured the balance of power in the WRC has started to teeter away towards Puuppola.

The teams arrived in the Mexican sunshine having done what they could to prepare for their first all-gravel event of the season, with Hyundai dispatching defending series champion Ott Tanak and Dani Sordo to Portugal for an outing on the Rally Serras de Fafe and M-Sport taking in an extensive test in Spain. In addition to their dusty mileage, Malcolm Wilson's team called upon Ford's technical muscle to simulate the Mexican running conditions in a climatic chamber.

Before the start, Toyota's championship leader Elfyn Evans was busy tipping team-mate Ogier for a record-equalling sixth win in Mexico. The self-effacing Evans was quite happy to admit that his own victory odds were considerably longer. His status atop the points table, courtesy of victory on the last round in Sweden, would oblige him to run first and sweep the long gravel stages on the opening day, handing buckets of time to those further back.

"Seb is a six-time world champion for a reason and he's always famously strong in Mexico," Evans said. "In my mind there's no doubt, it'll be business as usual for him this week."

Equal with Evans on points, and running a similarly unfavourable second on the road, Monte Carlo winner Thierry Neuville had a different pick for victory: his Hyundai team-mate Sordo.

"Our target here is to be ahead of Ogier - and Elfyn, of course!" he said cheerfully. "But we also know that if Dani has a trouble-free run, then even being sixth on the road I think there is no chance to hold him."

Such a victory would no doubt have been popular with Sordo's substantial Mexican fan base, but on the third stage, the vertiginous climb of El Chocolate, an incorrectly-fitted radiator hose came off, prompting a five-minute repair stop.

"I don't know if I feel frustrated or sad," said the Spaniard. "I don't have any feeling... We can be faster but it is pointless. We fight for nothing."

Ogier was distracted through shakedown and the opening spectator stages in Guanajuato, but pledged to get his head straight once the rally set off for the hills at the start of day two - and so it clearly was

In the end, Sordo did fight back, setting the fastest time through SS5 at Las Minas. However, on his second run through El Chocolate, his Hyundai's engine succumbed to the injuries incurred while running with no water earlier in the day - rally over.

With one of the pre-event favourites down, it was time for the other to come into his own and, when the moment arrived, Ogier predictably delivered a captain's innings.

In the lead-up to Mexico, considerable clickbait had been generated about 2020 being Ogier's worst start to a season - although he was beaten to the podium by team-mate Kalle Rovanpera on the powerstage in Sweden, Ogier only finished the rally 23s off the win, despite starting second on the road.

Arriving in Leon, he was only troubled by the threat that he feared the WRC's presence posed to Mexico's hitherto successful containment of the coronavirus. He was distracted through shakedown and the opening spectator stages in Guanajuato city centre, but pledged to get his head straight once the rally set off for the hills at the start of day two.

And so it clearly was.

Ogier was right on the pace through El Chocolate, then assumed the lead on the next stage after Tanak, mounting a charge, went off and damaged his Hyundai i20. Ogier's progress through the stages was a vision of cool, calm efficiency. Not that he was entirely happy, with much grumbling being focused upon the obstacle course that was apparently being laid out for him.

"The guys in front put some big, nice rocks in the road!" he said after the first run through Las Minas. Adding insult to injury, as the field came down into the valley for a spectator-pleasing blast through Parque Bicentario, ostensibly an asphalt stage, he found the same treatment being meted out: "Even on this stage they managed to put rocks on the road!"

Playing the part of Dick Dastardly with some relish was Neuville. With both of his Hyundai team-mates hitting trouble, the Belgian was going all-out to overcome his road position and put himself in with a chance to challenge for the win - using as much of the surrounding scenery as possible to aid his cause.

"Obviously I tried very hard, to be honest," he said. "Maybe I am missing a bit of the rear wing. Now we need a new windscreen."

Neuville had beaten the rest of the field in the 910-metre dash through the streets of Guanajuato on Thursday night and was keeping Ogier in his sights through most of the first full day, despite a dog running out in front of his car.

Then came SS9 late on Friday afternoon, when suddenly the i20 pulled up. The bonnet was opened to reveal an electrical fault and a puff of smoke that carried his hopes of victory, and of retaining the championship lead, off down the hillside. Thus the road in front of Ogier opened up - both physically and metaphorically.

After all the dramas of the day, second place was held by Teemu Suninen in the fastest of the M-Sport Ford Fiestas. The Finn was desperate to deliver in Mexico after two decidedly sub-par outings in Monte Carlo and Sweden, but he came through in Mexico with flying colours.

"Of course when the team boss asked me to do proper results, there was no other options," he said. "Luckily it ends up well!"

Suninen's speed brought some much-needed cheer to the M-Sport squad after team-mate Esapekka Lappi ended the second run through El Chocolate with the back of his car wreathed in flames. Neither the attendant marshals nor co-driver Janne Ferm could make much impression with their extinguishers; and then Lappi, for reasons even he could not explain, jumped into the car and drove off.

A few hundred metres down the road, with the Fiesta looking like it had emerged from a Jason Bourne movie, he leaped out and sat forlornly in the road watching his very expensive rally car go up in smoke. Team principal Richard Millener could not contain his woe at the spectacle.

Neuville's running-order reshuffle had meanwhile left the Toyotas of Evans and Rovanpera to flounder on considerably dirtier stages than they had been expecting, and both men watched their podium hopes ebb away into the dust

"It's the worst thing that can happen to any team, especially this team," he said. "Our insurance arrangements are going to mean a total loss, unfortunately. It will be the first time since 2015 that we have completely lost a car, but at least back then we knew we would be out again earning money very soon. In the current world situation, we can't say when that will be."

Saturday dawned with a new road order in which Neuville, restarting under Rally 2 rules, was forced into Cinderella's apron in order to sweep the stages from first on the road. On the day's first timed run through Guanajuatito, his best efforts were muffled by the gravel to the tune of 25.4 seconds when compared to the stage-winning pace of Ogier's Yaris.

At that point, Neuville managed to lose just over two minutes due to an unspecified technical issue on the road section, which was later ascribed to a recurrence of his electrical fault from the previous day.

This 'misfortune' resulted in his Hyundai being obliged to drop back and start fourth on the road at the start of the next stage, Alfaro, which Neuville duly won from team-mate Tanak.

Many were they who questioned whether this had been a mechanical affliction, or rather a case of Hyundai loading the deck against the Toyotas. Neuville's response to enquiries was a rakish smile before lighting up the sector times on the third stage of the day.

Leaving no margin for error, this was indeed spectacular stuff and a second straight stage win beckoned. That is, right up to the point where he slid off down a handily placed access path. The incident cost around 10s, but even this was considerably less than what might have been lost by starting first on the road.

Neuville's running-order reshuffle had meanwhile left the Toyotas of Evans and Rovanpera to flounder on considerably dirtier stages than they had been expecting, and both men watched their podium hopes ebb away into the dust. The third man in this particular battle was Tanak who, with an infinitely cleaner road surface beneath him, began to pull clear of the Toyotas and take great bites out of Suninen's hold on second place.

There was plenty of vigour being put into Tanak's performance at this point in the rally, and for good reason. Not only was the Estonian trying to get on terms with Suninen and Ogier, but also the gimlet eye of Hyundai team principal Andrea Adamo was getting its first opportunity to compare the speed of his two top men running in almost identical conditions.

Despite Neuville's slip-up on the third stage of the day, that result was 5-3 in the Belgian's favour in the internecine standings of the Alzenau team. You can be sure that this will not be the last time such comparisons are made.

"It's been a very demanding weekend," Tanak said after scoring his second consecutive runner-up spot.

"I would say I never felt fully confident to really go and push in the stages, so I really tried to approach kind of, let's say, in a more nice way or just stay away from trouble."

Suninen put up fierce resistance to the world champion's advance through much of the afternoon, surrendering only tenths until the Hyundai driver finally gained a few seconds on the second pass through Derramadero.

Tanak had a 28s deficit to the lead, but by then the decision had already been announced to cancel the final day's running and any faint hopes of victory were snuffed out.

"I did not want to race basically and I've been convinced to do it and I've done my job, but for me protecting human life should go first" Sebastien Ogier

Ogier duly cruised through to tie with his old nemesis Sebastien Loeb on six Mexico victories, gaining an eight-point lead over Evans at the top of the 2020 points table in doing so. Neuville's non-score means the nearest Hyundai is 20 points behind, while Tanak's early DNF on the Monte means he's 24 behind. So much for it being Ogier's worst start to a season.

Nevertheless, Ogier's first win in a Toyota was something of a bittersweet moment. "It's definitely a strange victory for me this weekend," said the victor.

"I did not want to race basically and I've been convinced to do it and I've done my job, but for me protecting human life should go first and I hope we didn't bring any harm here to our friends in Mexico.

"I think we've done a good race, we've done two good days without any mistakes, pushed when we needed and tried to control the race up to the end. Mexico remains a big challenge every time and it's still some good points for the championship."