Five-time winner Sébastien Ogier catapulted himself into serious contention to equal Sébastien Loeb’s record six victories at Rally Guanajuato México with an outright lead of 13.2 seconds on Friday evening.

The Toyota Yaris WRC driver won three of the day’s nine timed tests (SS8 was cancelled) and will restart from a favourable position on the road on Saturday.

Finland’s Teemu Suninen delivered an impressive performance in the leading Ford Fiesta WRC to hold second at the night halt, 20 seconds ahead of the current World Championship leader Elfyn Evans.

The Welshman managed to re-pass a resurgent defending World Champion Ott Tänak on the last short stage of the day. After losing time with damaged suspension in the morning, the Estonian had snatched third from Evans on stage nine but finished the day 0.2 seconds behind. Tänak won three of the day’s six gravel stages.

Finland’s Kalle Rovanperä overcame a slow puncture on the morning loop to hold fifth, setting the fastest time on SS12 for good measure, and Gus Greensmith rounded off the surviving World Rally Cars in sixth with the second of the Fords.

Seventh-placed Pontus Tidemand is looking for a hat-trick of FIA WRC2 wins in México and the Swedish Škoda driver reached León with a lead of 51.1 seconds over Russian Nicolay Gryazin in the first of the factory Hyundai NG i20s. Brake issues dropped Ole-Christian Veiby to a distant third in the category.
 
FIA WRC3 front-runner Marco Bulacia and closest rival Emilio Fernández rounded off the top 10 in the overall standings in their respective Škoda Fabia and Citroën C3. Ricardo Triviño was the leading Mexican driver after earlier technical problems hampered last year’s FIA WRC2 winner Benito Guerra.
 
Overnight leader Thierry Neuville lost his grip on third place on the last of the day’s gravel stages when technical issues sidelined the Hyundai i20.
 
The second run through El Chocolate spelt the end of the road for both Ford’s Esapekka Lappi and Dani Sordo. Flames engulfed the rear of the Finn’s Fiesta WRC after the flying finish and the crew could only abandon ship and watch from a distance as fire destroyed the car on the subsequent gravel link section.

Dani Sordo had lost over five minutes with a water hose issue to the radiator on the first run through the test in the morning and appeared to have recovered well with a fastest time and a useful pace after the afternoon restart. But the crew noticed smoke under the bonnet of the i20 after 26km of the seventh stage. A fire extinguisher solved any serious concerns, but the Spaniard was going no further with terminal engine problems, potentially caused by the earlier overheating issue.

Tomorrow’s action includes two loops of the Guanajuatito (24.91km), Alfaro (16.92020 Rallye Monte-Carlo - Unofficial Results after Section 5:9km) and Derramadero (21.78km) gravel stages and three short super specials to conclude the day’s proceedings.

2020 Rally Mexico - Unofficial Results after Section 3: