Toyota's Juho Hanninen takes WRC Rally Mexico lead after Zocalo run
Toyota's Juho Hanninen leads Rally Mexico after the opening runs through the Zocalo street stage in Mexico City, the first stage of round three of the World Rally Championship season
In damp but drying conditions Hanninen set the pace over the two runs of the 0.98-mile test in Zocalo, the capital's main square, posting a combined time on the CDMX stage of 3m37.2s in his Yaris WRC.
The Finn, with just three powerstage points to his name so far in 2017, will head into the first full day of running on Friday with 1.6 seconds in hand over M-Sport's Ott Tanak and Citroen driver Kris Meeke.
Thierry Neuville, who led vast chunks of the first two rallies of the season before crashing out of both, lies fourth overall a further second back, with his Hyundai team-mate Hayden Paddon in fifth.
Four-time champion Sebastien Ogier was sixth-fastest on combined times, the Frenchman recording the fastest time of all on the second run.
The third Hyundai i20 of Dani Sordo was seventh, 0.2s faster than current championship leader Jari-Matti Latvala - who was unable to match the pace of Toyota team-mate Hanninen.
Pontus Tidemand turned in a strong performance in his WRC2 Skoda Fabia R5 and sits ninth overall, having already established a 12.7s lead over home favourite Benito Guerra in class.
Elfyn Evans was fourth-fastest over the first two tests in his DMACK-shod Ford Fiesta WRC, 2.5s slower than Hanninen, but is classified 24th and last having been handed a five-minute penalty for an engine change after shakedown.
The crews will now head 250 miles north back to the rally base in Guanajuanto for the remaining three days of the event.
CLASSIFICATION:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juho Hanninen, K.Lindstrom | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC | Toyota | 3m37.2s | - |
| 2 | Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 3m38.8s | 1.6s |
| 2 | Kris Meeke, P.Nagle | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 3m38.8s | 1.6s |
| 4 | Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 3m39.8s | 2.6s |
| 5 | Hayden Paddon, J.Kennard | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 3m40.4s | 3.2s |
| 6 | Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 3m41.2s | 4.0s |
| 7 | Dani Sordo, M.Marti | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 3m43.2s | 6.0s |
| 8 | Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC | Toyota | 3m43.4s | 6.2s |
| 9 | Pontus Tidemand, J.Andersson | Skoda Motorsport | Skoda | 3m43.9s | 6.7s |
| 10 | Lorenzo Bertelli, S.Scattolin | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 3m47.5s | 10.3s |
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