The 2023 Rally Mexico (also known as the Rally Guanajuato México 2023) was a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

event for

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

held over four days between 16 and 19 March 2023. It marked the nineteenth running of the

Rally Mexico Rally Mexico, formerly known as Rally America is a round of the FIA World Rally Championship. The rally entered the championship schedule in the 2004 season. The event's itinerary is based in the state of Guanajuato. The stages take place in t ...

, and was the third round of the

2023 World Rally Championship The 2023 FIA World Rally Championship is the fifty-first season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing competition recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams ...

World Rally Championship-2 The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...

and

World Rally Championship-3 The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after WRC2 entrants. Entry into WRC3 is limited to cars tha ...

. The 2023 event was based in the city of León in

Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...

and was consisted of twenty-three special stages, covering a total competitive distance of .

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champions ...

and

Julien Ingrassia Julien Ingrassia (born 26 November 1979) is a retired French rally co-driver. Working with Sébastien Ogier, he became World Rally Champion in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 with Volkswagen Motorsport, 2017 and 2018 with M-Sport World Rally Team, ...

were the defending rally winners. However, Ingrassia did not defend his title as he retired from the sport at the end of 2021 season.

Pontus Tidemand Pontus Johan Tidemand (born 10 December 1990) is a Swedish Rallying, rally and Rallycross, rallycross driver. He is the 2017 WRC-2 champion and a previous M-Sport World Rally Team, M-Sport and Škoda Motorsport driver. Pontus is the son of Swedi ...

and Patrick Barth were the defending rally winners in the WRC-2 category.

Marco Bulacia Wilkinson Marco Bulacia Wilkinson (born 27 September 2000) is a Bolivian rally driver. He currently partners with co-driver Marcelo Der Ohannesian in the WRC-2 category. His younger brother Bruno is a rally driver also. Rally career Bulacia Wilkinson made ...

and

Giovanni Bernacchini Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...

were the defending rally winners in the WRC-3 category. Ogier and

Vincent Landais Vincent Landais (born 17 October 1991) is a French rally co-driver. He is the co-driver of the French rally driver Sébastien Ogier, racing for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT in the World Rally Championship. Rally career Landais and Loubet started in 2 ...

won their second victory of the season. Their team,

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT is a World Rally Championship (WRC) team based in Finland that serves as Toyota's official factory team. Its team principal is former WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala. The team made its début during the 2017 season, where i ...

, were the manufacturers' winners.

Gus Greensmith Fergus "Gus" Greensmith (born 26 December 1996) is a British rally driver. Rally career Greensmith's family owns fuel and lubricants distributor Crown Oil. A former youth goalkeeper for Manchester City F.C. and karter before moving into the ...

and Jonas Andersson and Patrick Barth were the winners in the WRC-2 category, while Diego Dominguez Jr. and Rogelio Peñate were the winners in the WRC-3 category.

Background

Entry list

The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, its support categories, the World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3 and

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

entries that were not registered to score points in any championship. Ten were entered under

Rally1 Within the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally1 is a formula of rally car specifications for use at the highest level of international rallying in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as determined by the FIA. Despite the use of the wo ...

regulations, as were ten

Rally2 In the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally2 is a formula of rally car specification determined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA for use in its international competitions: the World Rally Championship (WRC) and reg ...

crews in the World Rally Championship-2 and one

Rally3 In the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally3 is a formula of rally car specification determined by the FIA for use in its international competitions: the World Rally Championship (WRC) and regional championships. National rallying compe ...

crew in the World Rally Championship-3.

Itinerary

All dates and times are CST ( UTC-6).

Report

WRC Rally1

Rally Mexico opened with 2 runs around a superspecial stage in

Guanajuato City Guanajuato () is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Guanajuato in central Mexico and the capital of the state of the same name. It is part of the macroregion of the Bajío. It is in a narrow valley, which makes its streets narrow a ...

, and it was

Ott Tänak Ott Tänak (; born 15 October 1987) is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is competing for Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT. Tänak achieved his maiden drivers' world title in t ...

and

Martin Järveoja Martin Järveoja (; born 18 August 1987) is an Estonian rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Ott Tänak and is competing for Hyundai in the World Rally Championship. Rally career He is the son of Estonian politician Toomas Järveoja, an ...

who was fastest on both runs, taking a 1.7 second lead over Kalle Rovanpera and

Jonne Halttunen Jonne Halttunen (born 13 December 1985) is a Finnish rally co-driver. Currently, he is the co-driver of Kalle Rovanperä, driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Previously, they represented Škoda Motorsport to participate in the World Rally Champio ...

into Friday. However, on the first stage of the day, the 29-kilometer El Chocolate stage, the Estonian crew's

turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

failed, causing them to drop to twenty-ninth place and almost 8 minutes behind the leaders,

Esapekka Lappi Esapekka Lappi (born 17 January 1991) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2012 Finnish Rally Champion, 2014 European Rally Champion and the 2016 WRC-2 Champion. Career 2012 Lappi won the 2012 Finnish Rally Championship with Ford Fiesta S2000 ...

and

Janne Ferm Janne Ferm (born 29 August 1980) is a Finnish rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Esapekka Lappi and is competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT in the World Rally Championship. Rally career Janne Ferm began his rally career in 2007, ...

. Lappi and Ferm would lead the rally at the end of Friday by 5.3 seconds, ahead of 8-time World Champion

and his co-driver

. The rally leaders had a serious accident on the opening stage of Saturday, their

Hyundai i20 The Hyundai i20 is a supermini hatchback produced by Hyundai since 2008. The i20 made its debut at the Paris Motor Show in October 2008, and sits between the i10 and i30. The i20 replaces the Getz in nearly all of its markets, while several m ...

going rear first into a

telegraph pole A utility pole is a column or post typically made out of wood used to support overhead power lines and various other public utilities, such as electrical cable, fiber optic cable, and related equipment such as transformers and street lights. It c ...

. The car then caught fire, causing the stage to be red-flagged.

Thierry Neuville Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2013, 2016–201 ...

and Martin Wydaeghe won the following 3 stages, whilst Ogier and Landais had a 29 second lead over

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

teammates

Elfyn Evans Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Wales, Welsh rally driver. He is currently teamed with Scott Martin (co-driver), Scott Martin and is competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Toyota Gazoo Racing in the World Rally Championship. Care ...

and Scott Martin. Ogier would extend his lead to 36 seconds, as his teammates Evans and Martin's gap to third place Neuville and Wydaeghe was reduced to 4.3 seconcds. Evans and Martin were locked in a battle with Neuville and Wydaeghe for second place, the Belgians closing the gap to 2.7 seconds as they begun the

Power Stage The Power Stage (abbreviated as PS) is a special stage that usually runs as the final stage of a rally in the World Rally Championship (WRC). Additional championship points are available to the fastest five crews through the stage regardless of ...

, a suspected bent suspension arm costing Evans and Martin on the penultimate stage. In Power Stage, Neuville and Wydaeghe gained 3.1 seconds on Evans and Martin to claim second place by 4 tenths of a second. Ogier and Landais won the rally by 27.5 seconds and also won the Power Stage by 2.1 seconds, meaning they lead the championship by 3 points over Neuville and Wydaeghe.

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

WRC-2 Rally2

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

WRC-3 Rally3

Classification

Special stages

Championship standings

Notes

References

External links

*
2023 Rally Mexico
at eWRC-results.com
2023 Rally Mexico
at rally-maps.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Rally Mexico, 2023 2023 in Mexican motorsport

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

March 2023 sports events in Mexico

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...