World Rally round three in Mexico
John Floyd
Round three of the 2017 World Rally Championship will get under way later today with the shakedown drives for Rally Mexico, the first gravel stage event of the year. With temperatures at the 30º Celsius mark and climbs of up to 2 700 metres, the event will be one of the most challenging of the season.
The consequent power losses will require some extra driving skills to ensure competitive stage times. A total distance of 897km, of which 370km will make up the 19 special stages lies ahead of the field, with a new 1.57km street section in Mexico City as the first stage. With the withdrawal of the dominant Volkswagen team at the end of last year Hyundai were firm favourites after a good showing in 2016. With reigning champion Sebastian Ogier joining M-Sport Ford WRT it was expected that it would take time for him to assimilate so everything pointed to a good year for the Korean contender. But it has not been the team’s year so far.
An unfortunate incident on the Monte Carlo Rally put paid to Haydon Paddon’s chances, while mistakes on both the Monte and Swedish rallies took away certain victories for Thierry Neuville.
The season has certainly been shaken up so far with victory for Ford’s Ogier in Monte Carlo and a third in Sweden. His team-mate Ott Tanak took third and second in the same events. But the sensation of the season so far and the man to watch in Mexico has to be Jarri-Matti Latvala in the all-new Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Yaris which has been fast straight out of the box. A second in Monte Carlo and a stunning first in Sweden place the Finn at the head of the drivers’ title chase.
The 2017 World Rally Championship promises to be one of the best.