With a lead of more than a minute over his closest threat,
(VW/Michelin) appears to be heading for a third consecutive Rally Mexico victory after yesterday’s stages.

Mads Ostberg (Citroën, 2nd) and Andreas Mikkelsen (VW, 3rd) are split by 9.7 seconds.

Much of the excitement has disappeared from the event after the potentially thrilling battle between Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala – competing without the benefit of split times – came to an end this morning.

Unfortunately, the Finn made a mistake on SS12 and, with his car running on three wheels, he was unable to start the following test, leaving his team-mate with a first class opportunity to claim his third victory of the year.

“We’ve had a perfect run so far,” acknowledged the Frenchman at the midday break, despite dismissing his chances of a podium finish prior to the start. “We had a good tyre strategy on Friday and there were other cars [Rally2 starters] running ahead of us this morning. Plus we’ve been pushing hard, both yesterday and on today’s long stages.

“We will probably take things easier now. Continuing to push would be the best way to make a mistake. We’re only halfway into the event and there are still some long stages to come. Last year, the Polo R WRCs suffered from overheating on ‘Otates 2’, and we will need to look after our tyres.”

Latvala’s misfortunes have promoted Ostberg (Citroën) to second spot, although his cushion over Andreas Mikkelsen has fallen from 26.7s to 9.7s after a spin on SS13. “We hit something towards the end of SS12 and maybe it damaged the front suspension. On the next stage, I found the handling a little strange and we span. We lost 17 seconds, but there’s a long way to go. I know I’ve got the speed to defend second place.”