Defending World Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julian Ingrassia sneaked into a slender three-tenths of a second lead after the opening 1.01km Monster Super Special stage of the 11th Rally Guanajuato Corona through mining tunnels and around the narrow, cobbled streets of Guanajuato on Thursday evening.
Estonian youngster Ott Tanak produced a stunning performance to set the second quickest time in his Ford Fiesta R5. Volkswagen’s Andreas Mikkelsen was third in a Polo R WRC and the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team’s Kris Meeke slotted into fourth position on his Mexican debut. Hyundai’s Chris Atkinson stopped on the stage and dropped 24.7 seconds to the leading Polo.
Twenty-six drivers from 15 countries were flagged away from the traditional ceremonial start in front of many thousands of adoring fans at the spectacular Alhóndiga de Granaditas in the historic silver town, in what has traditionally become one of the best starting locations ever used in the history of the FIA World Rally Championship.
“This rally is going to be quite tricky to be honest,” said fourth-placed Meeke. “I always looked at the television in the past and I saw nice open, fast flowing stages. But it was quite a surprise when I saw them first hand with first and second gear corners in this heat. The last time I was in Mexico, I was on a motorcycle on a stage of 1,850 kilometres, non-stop, and it took 41 hours on a motorbike. So some of the longer stages will be a drop in the ocean to that!”
Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala topped the morning’s shakedown times with a quickest fourth run of 3min 53.6sec and that was two seconds quicker than the time set by team mate Sébastien Ogier on his second pass through the shortened stage. “For me, tomorrow is about damage limitation and not making any mistakes when I am running first on the road,” said Latvala.
Meeke clocked the second quickest time of 3min 54.7sec late in the shakedown session, while Volkswagen’s third driver Andreas Mikkelsen, Citroën’s Mads Østberg and Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen were the only other drivers to break the four-minute barrier.
“Last year it was a little bit different with the rules for qualification,” admitted Ogier. “I suppose I have a better starting position than Jari-Matti (on Friday). There is always a lot of cleaning of the stages here and loose gravel that we have to deal with. My pace on the shakedown was not bad. I am confident that I can fight for the victory.”