Hyundai determined to increase lead
After an excellent result on the Swedish Rally, Hyundai Motorsport lead both the Drivers’ and Constructers’ championships and will be determined to increase that lead on the third event of the 2018 WRC calendar, the Rally Guanajuato Mexico.
Championship leader Thierry Neuville will have his work cut out as this event has been a very successful one for Citroen.
The French team have a very impressive record with seven victories in the thirteen years that Mexico has been on the WRC schedule. That included last year when Kris Meeke took the win.
On the six other occasions it was down to the talent of Frenchman and nine times World Champion Sebastien Loeb, and he’ll be back behind the wheel of a Citroen this weekend. It has been a while since Loeb competed in a WRC event, but as he proved on this year’s Dakar Rally, he has lost none of his skill.
Another Frenchman on the hunt will be Sebastien Ogier, three times winner in Mexico. He needs a good finish to put him back into the title chase and get M-Sport off the bottom of the table.
Starting on Thursday evening, the competitors face 1 055km of gravel and high altitude roads, climbing to 2 737m above sea level via 22 special stages covering 344km before the finish on Sunday.
Neuville leads the chase for the title on 41 points followed by Ogier (on 31). Gazoo Racing Toyota hold the next three spots, Jari-Matti Latvala on 23, Esapekka Lappi (23) and Ott Tanak (21).
Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelssen shares the position with Tanak also on 21 points, with Citroen’s Craig Breen and Kris Meeke on 20 and 17 points, respectively.
The constructor’s table reflects Hyundai Motorsport leading on 54 points, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT (53), Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT (46) and M-Sport WRT (43).
The championship is extremely close and a good result is essential to all the teams.