Ogier takes over Rally Mexico lead as rivals falter

Top 15 classification after SS9 at Rally Mexico

Sebastien Ogier holds a useful lead over the chasing pack at the end of Friday’s action at Rally Mexico following a heavy rate of attrition to his main rivals.

The Citroen Total driver heads the overall classification by 14.8s from former M-Sport Ford teammate Elfyn Evans thanks to a trio of stage wins on Friday afternoon’s route coupled with key rivals dropping out.

Andreas Mikkelsen was forced to retire during SS5 while leading due to a mechanical problem with his Hyundai, before teammate Dani Sordo suffered a similar fate with an electrical issue halting him at SS7.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Jari-Matti Latvala became the third major retirement of the afternoon as he also suffered a terminal electrical fault on SS8.

The result saw Ogier lead from Evans with Kris Meeke promoted to third place for Toyota ahead of teammate and World Rally Championship leader Ott Tanak in fourth place but just 16 seconds back.

Esapekka Lappi holds fifth place for Citroen, only two seconds behind Tanak, with the sole-remaining Hyundai of Thierry Neuville rounding out the regular front-runners in sixth place one minute behind leader Ogier.