Boletins de Imprensa - WRS3: Mexico

WRS3: Mexico

An absolute seismic shift was awaiting the field, as the sub-zero temperatures and snow of Sweden were swapped for searing heat and sand in Mexico, with the Rally poised to set off in Guanajuato, the unique street course offering a very quick blast over two sprint stages to kick start the event, before the much longer afternoon on the sands of the hillside.

It became apparent very quickly that all was not as it seemed, as championship leader Vaculik opted for asphalt tyres, and despite jumping to an early lead before lunch, fell away by almost two minutes in the afternoon on the dust. This left the door wide open for Wynn "P2" Hunter to oversteer through and become the first ever driver after Vaculik to lead a rally event after Day 1.

Continuing to defy all stats, it was once again a monumental showing by Ceļš, still four weeks away from turning 19, and entering the competition as the 25th ranked driver, the Latvian stormed to 2nd place on the opening day, with the Portuguese pair of Bão Pereira, and Castroneves capitalising on Vaculik being down in 8th.

However, it wouldn't be long before the title favourite would start scything his way back through the field, pulling over a minute off of Hunters lead, and jumping straight back up to P2 with a string of four straight stage wins on the second day, as a few gaps started to appear in the times between competitors! However, Day 3 saw a repeat of Vaculiks tyre troubles, as his recovery drive was undone, demoting him to P4 overall, now over 2 minutes behind leader Hunter, and needing to find at least 40 seconds to reclaim a spot on the podium, with just one day to go.

Another stand-out performance comes from Robert Zur. The 24 year old yet to crack the Top 20 in the previous two events seems to have found much better form in Mexico, currently running P10 and set for his first championship points if he can hold off Finland's Korhonen just 6 seconds behind, or even find a few seconds himself and elevate to P9, as the gap to Müller ahead only stood at a slender 4 seconds.

Day 4, and the stage was set for a phenomenal comback, as Vaculik set about reclaiming a +2:21.00 gap to Hunter out front, and the British camp were undeniably sweating as the time difference eradicated FAST! Vaculik managed to win stages 1-4 in his usual style, taking 45 seconds, 15 seconds, and a massive 58 seconds respectively out of Hunters lead, leaving just 23 seconds between them going into the final stage of the final day. Fortunately for Wynn, Mexico's closing ceremony was a sprint stage, and expecting Vaculik to claw back the remaining 23 seconds over a one and a half minute stage was nigh on insurmountable, subsequently Hunter conservatively bought his Toyota home in P6, just two seconds adrift of Martin, and secured his first ever WRS win!

"I mean, don't get me wrong, we are here because of tyre drama for Martin, let's face facts, but we still gotta drive aggressively, and consistently, and not throw it into the scenery. We managed to keep it level and bring ourselves home safe!" said Hunter in the sunny evening paddock.

Big points on the board for Hunter sees him pull a slight lead in the championship, but all drivers continue to lose out in ranking for the time being while the governing body find a way to allocate ranking points earned over the last three events...