Lappi leads as drama hits Rally Mexico opener

Top 15 classification after SS1 at Rally Mexico

Esapekka Lappi leads Rally Mexico for Citroen after a dramatic opening stage was cancelled partway through due to a safety concerns over a jump at the end of the stage.

A jump at the end of the 1.14km street stage, marking the traditional eye-catching start to Rally Mexico, was throwing the rear of each car into the air which triggered safety worries.

Rally organisers halted the stage with the top three – Ott Tanak, Thierry Neuville and Sebastien Ogier – unable to run.

As a result, the trio were given notional times to match Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Kris Meeke, the last car to head through the stage, who was 0.6s slower than Lappi.

It sees Lappi in the Citroen lead by one-tenth of a second from Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen before the half-second gap to Tanak (Toyota), Neuville (Hyundai) and Ogier (Citroen) plus Meeke and Evans (M-Sport Ford) who set identical times.

Dani Sordo, returning to WRC action for the first time this year taking over from Sebastien Loeb in the third Hyundai, takes eighth place 1.5s off Lappi, with M-Sport Ford’s Teemu Suninen setting an equal time, to see Jari-Matti Latvala two-tenths further back for Toyota Gazoo Racing who rounds out the top 10.