Rally Mexico stage 6 classification top 17 - Lappi takes stage win and leads Ogier and Evans-driver quotes 17.03.2023: WRC RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP Rally Guanajuato Mexico SS6 El Chocolate 2 Friday, March 17th 2023 All live and Videopass HERE 1 #4 FIN E. LAPPI FIN

WRC RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
Rally Guanajuato Mexico
 SS6 El Chocolate 2
Friday, March 17th 2023

All live and Videopass HERE

This would be a first competitive pass through El Chocolate for the non-Rally1 crews after the morning’s stoppage.


Ott Tänak was back on full throttle with a repaired car and carded the target time of 22min 23.1sec but the Estonian was not on the pace of his rivals on his first full gravel stage at speed in the Ford Puma. He dropped 16.6 seconds to Kalle Rovanperä alone.


Elfyn Evans managed to fend off Dani Sordo to retain third but Esapekka Lappi and Sébastien Ogier were embroiled in a terrific tussle for the lead. The Finn again managed to beat his illustrious French rival - this time by 0.8 seconds - and he extended his advantage to 2.2 with the quickest time.


A fastest time for Gus Greensmith enabled the Briton to overhaul a cautious Emil Lindholm and snatch the WRC2 lead. Adrien Fourmaux moved up to second.



Car 8.     TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“The turbo is fine now. It was a big job. No feeling at all. It’s tricky.”



Car 69.    ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“I am still only the 10th car on the road and it’s cleaning for the cars behind. I think we take two tyres.
It’s not so good to have the extra weight on this stage but let’s see later on.”




Car 11.   NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“To be honest I had a really good run, no mistakes and really clean and tried to manage the tyres.
thought it was better than that. It was quite hot I am surprised.”



Car 33.   EVANS/MARTIN
“It was really slippery. It didn’t feel good but, at the same time, I tried to do the best I could.”


Car 17.   OGIER/LANDAIS
“It’s good. I have a good stage. I am happy with this one.”



Car 4.    LAPPI/FERM
Fastest overall by 0.8 seconds. “Just clean as well. You cannot attack. You will crash immediately. Stay
on the line, that is the key.”



Car 6.      SORDO/CARRERA
“It was good. The time was not so quick. To do the times of Seb and Esapekka is difficult. They are a
little step on top at the moment.”



Car 20.     GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“As soon as we put the hards on it felt better. At the end we had a big drop in power. I don’t think it’s
anything massive but we definitely lost power.”



Car 21.      SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“I think I took a little bit of a risk with my tyres. I took soft tyres on the rears. The first time with the car
on gravel and it’s interesting to see how it works with these tyres.”



Car 22.    FOURMAUX/CORIA
Left the stage finish in a hurry…“It was a clean stage.”



Car 24.     LINDHOLM/HÄMÄLÄINEN
“Nothing, I did not have the chance to check the pace notes. It was a decent run. It is still quite slippery.
It’s okay. The race is still long.”



Car 25.      KAJETANOWICZ/SZCZEPANIAK
“Some guys in front of us did this stage on the previous loop. I tried to be smooth. My driving is very
delicate and is safe at this moment.”





- Neil Perkins-

1     #4     FIN E. LAPPI     FIN J. FERM     i20 N Rally1 HYBRID     M     Rally1     1:03:14.5        


2     #17     FRA S. OGIER     FRA V. LANDAIS     GR Yaris Rally1 HYBRID     M     Rally1     1:03:16.7     +2.2     +2.2


3     #33     GBR E. EVANS     GBR S. MARTIN     GR Yaris Rally1 HYBRID     M     Rally1     1:03:34.6     +17.9     +20.1


4     #6     ESP D. SORDO     ESP C. CARRERA     i20 N Rally1 HYBRID     M     Rally1     1:03:35.7     +1.1     +21.2


5     #11     BEL T. NEUVILLE     BEL M. WYDAEGHE     i20 N Rally1 HYBRID     M     Rally1     1:03:47.1     +11.4     +32.6


6     #69     FIN K. ROVANPERÄ     FIN J. HALTTUNEN     GR Yaris Rally1 HYBRID     M     Rally1     1:03:56.1     +9.0     +41.6


7     #20     GBR G. GREENSMITH     SWE J. ANDERSSON     Fabia RS     WRC2 (D/C)     Rally2     1:06:06.8     +2:10.7     +2:52.3


8     #22     FRA A. FOURMAUX     FRA A. CORIA     Fiesta MkII     WRC2 (D/C)     Rally2     1:06:11.1     +4.3     +2:56.6


9     #21     SWE O. SOLBERG     GBR E. EDMONDSON     Fabia RS     WRC2 (D/C)     Rally2     1:06:16.5     +5.4     +3:02.0


10     #24     FIN E. LINDHOLM     FIN R. HÄMÄLÄINEN     Fabia Evo     WRC2 (T/D/C)     Rally2     1:06:17.7     +1.2     +3:03.2


11     #25     POL K. KAJETANOWICZ     POL M. SZCZEPANIAK     Fabia Evo     WRC2 (DC/CC)     Rally2     1:06:53.0     +35.3     +3:38.5


12     #29     CHL J. MARTINEZ     ARG A. ALVAREZ     Fabia     WRC2 (DC/CC)     Rally2     1:07:37.4     +44.4     +4:22.9


13     #26     CZE M. PROKOP     CZE M. ERNST     Fiesta MkII     WRC2 (DC/CC)     Rally2     1:08:11.6     +34.2     +4:57.1


14     #28     PER E. CASTRO     ARG F. MUSSANO     Fabia Evo     WRC2 (DC/CC)     Rally2     1:08:48.7     +37.1     +5:34.2


15     #30     PRY D. DOMINGUEZ     ESP R. PEÑATE     Fiesta Rally3     WRC3     Rally3     1:11:55.2     +3:06.5     +8:40.7


16     #27     POL D. CHWIST     POL K. HELLER     Fabia Evo     WRC2 (DC/CC)     Rally2     1:12:02.6     +7.4     +8:48.1


17     #8     EST O. TÄNAK     EST M. JÄRVEOJA     Puma Rally1 HYBRID     M     Rally1     1:16:17.0     +4:14.4     +13:02.5





WRC  photo Hyundai