REVIEW: MEXICO
Despite a great return for Loeb, it was Sebastien Ogier that came out on top in Mexico
Rally Mexico saw us be blessed with the presence of the rally god, Sebastien Loeb, however the dream return wasn't to be, as it was the other Sebastien that reigned supreme.
DAY ONE & TWO
Neuville came into the round as championship leader, taking the unwanted role as road sweep, and, despite a great run in Thursday night's super special, a horrid Friday in which he encountered fuel pressure and power steering issues.
The proper stages of Friday saw neighbours Dani Sordo (back after Hayden Padden's drive in Sweden) and Kris Meeke go head-to-head. Each took two stage wins but Meeke struggle through the rest of the day after his stage six win and Sordo held the lead at the end of day two.
However, the Spaniard's top spot was under pressure. Lurking only 7.2 seconds behind was the Citroen C3 of Sebastien Loeb. On his return to the sport for the first time since 2015, Loeb proved that class is permanent, taking two stage wins and looking like he hadn't been away, despite it being his first time in the new generation of car.
Ott Tanak avoided all of the potential water hazards to take third spot. Meeke dropped to fourth, holding only 5.2 seconds over Sebastien Ogier, who recovered well from a spin early on.
It was a bad day for M-Sport Ford with two retirements. A roll from Elfyn Evans put him out of the rally completely, as co-driver Dan Barritt suffered a concussion, while Teemu Suninen lost his battle with a barrier. However, the Finnish driver's car was repairable and he rejoined the rally on Saturday.
Toyota also had a tough day. First, Esapekka Lappi crashed out before Jari-Matti Latvala was forced to retire before the two runs through the super special on Friday night with an alternator problem.
In WRC-2, Pontus Tidemand walked away from the rest of the field as he lead by more then three minutes at the end of day two.
DAY THREE
Loeb opened the day with a stage win as he took the lead of the rally. However, not wanting to be upstaged by his fellow French Sebastien, Ogier went on a flyer. Finishing stage 12 in second, he then went on to win the next four. This put him in prime position to capitalise when top two Loeb and Sordo both suffered punctures in stage 14.
Sordo limped through the stage, losing only 30 seconds to Ogier, dropping him to third overall as Meeke took second. However, Loeb, who said he was still in "Dakar mode", stopped to change the tyre. This lost him nearly two and a half minutes and he dropped to fifth.
A turbo boost problem saw Ott Tanak slide from third to 14th by the end of day three, which helped Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen up the table.
WRC-2 was over as a contest with Tidemand more than five minutes ahead of Gus Greensmith, however the two sat seventh and eighth overall, ahead of ninth placed Latvala who returned to the contest on Saturday.
DAY FOUR
Ogier did what Ogier does on the final day, winning by over a minute, despite a 10-second penalty for cutting a chicane on the power stage.
Meeke doesn't do boring final days in Mexico. He did manage to avoid all car parks this year, however, a half roll on the first stage of the day saw him lose his second place to Sordo, however the Northern Irishman did take the final step of the podium.
Mikkelsen took fourth despite almost crashing his Hyundai on the penultimate stage. Loeb took fifth in what was probably the drive of the weekend. Neuville's awful weekend saw him finish sixth, however his three points on the power stage could help after Ogier's no score. Tanak's tough weekend was also softened as he took the power stage victory.
WRC-2 was won by Tidemand and the Skoda Fabia R5, as man and machine worked perfectly all weekend. He finished seventh overall. Greensmith will be pleased with his 18 points for second. Latvala managed to squeeze into eighth, knocking the Brit to ninth overall.