World Rally Championship: Good luck to the third winner of the season (with great video)
RALLYE WRC After Ford (Monte Carlo) and Toyota (Sweden), the row of this year's race winners in Mexico was Citroën. But 750 meters before the finish, Kris Meeke almost threw away the victory, as a spectacular video recording shows. This finale will go down in the history of the World Rally Championship. Kris Meeke went into the final special stage with a [...]
This finale will go down in the history of the World Rally Championship. Kris Meeke started the final special stage with a lead of 40 seconds over world champion Sébastien Ogier in the Ford Focus. In the last long left-hand bend, however, the Citroën C3 WRC went off the track after a compression and landed in a parking lot for spectators that was fortunately not full (see video).
It took several seconds for Meeke to get his bearings and find his way back onto the track through a hole in the hedge. In the end, however, Meeke saved 13.8 seconds of his lead and was thus able to celebrate his fourth WRC triumph with relief.
Thus, there are already three different winners in the still young racing season with the World Rally Cars of the new vehicle generation (more powerful and faster). At the Rally Monte Carlo, world champion Sébastien Ogier made a grand debut with M-Sport Ford, and in Sweden Jari-Matti Latvala has already given the Toyota team, which has returned to the World Rally Championship after 18 years, a success.
In Mexico, Ogier initially had the handicap of being second behind Latvala on the gravel tracks and thus having to play the "road wiper. Meeke, on the other hand, after two unsuccessful first races of the season, was one of the last top drivers to be allowed onto the tracks, which had become grippier with each vehicle, and exploited this advantage from the second special stage onwards.
World champion Ogier takes the lead in the standings again
Without a time-consuming spin, Meeke's late mistake might have given Ogier his second win of the season. Meanwhile, Latvala suffered from an overheating engine and brake problems in his Yaris WRC, but was happy to have at least finished sixth. However, the Finn has to cede the top spot in the WRC standings back to his former VW teammate Ogier. The latter now leads with 66 points ahead of Latvala (58) and Ford driver Ott Tänak (48), who finished fourth in Mexico.
At the Monte and in Sweden, Thierry Neuville had set the pace in the new Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC until his accidents, which set him far back. This time, the German-speaking Belgian kept his temper under control. With four best times, including victory in the final Power Stage, which was rewarded with 5 additional points, Neuville took third place on the podium.
In the course of the Rally Mexico, Hyundai Motorsport realized its 100th SS best time. So their next success is only a matter of time. At the fourth WRC round on Corsica from April 6 to 9, however, Sébastien Ogier is likely to be hard to beat on the winding asphalt tracks.
