The 2019 Rally Mexico (also known as the Rally Guanajuato Mexico 2019) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 7 and 10 March 2019. It marked the sixteenth running of Rally Mexico and was the third round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the newly created WRC-2 Pro class. The 2019 event was based in the town of León in Guanajuato and consisted of twenty-one special stages. The rally covered a total competitive distance of .
Reigning World Drivers' and World Co-Drivers Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were the defending rally winners. M-Sport Ford WRT, the team they drove for in 2018, were the defending manufacturers' winners. Pontus Tidemand and Jonas Andersson were the defending rally winners of WRC-2, but they did not participate in the event.
Ogier and Ingrassia successfully defended their titles. Their team, Citroën World Rally Team, were the manufacturers' winners. The M-Sport Ford WRT crew of Łukasz Pieniążek and Kamil Heller won the WRC-2 Pro category, while Benito Guerra and Jaime Zapata won the wider WRC-2 class, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category.
Background Championship standings prior to the event
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships for the first time in their career, with a seven-point ahead of Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul. Six-time world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were third, a further nine points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, defending manufacturers' champions Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT held a one-point lead over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT.
In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings, Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson held a four-point lead ahead of Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen were third, eleven points further back. In the manufacturers' championship, M-Sport Ford WRT led Škoda Motorsport by sixteen points, with eleven-point-behind Citroën Total in third.
In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Ole Christian Veiby and Jonas Andersson led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by fifteen points respectively. Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud were second, with Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul in third in each standings, another eight points behind.
Entry list The following crews entered the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of twenty-three entries were received, with ten crews entered with World Rally Cars and five entered the World Rally Championship-2. Only one crew was nominated to score points in the Pro class.
No. Driver Co-Driver Entrant Car Tyre World Rally Car entries 1 Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 3 Teemu Suninen Marko Salminen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC 4 Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 5 Kris Meeke Toyota Yaris WRC 6 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 8 Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 10 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 11 Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 33 Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC 89 Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC World Rally Championship-2 Pro entries 21 Łukasz Pieniążek Kamil Heller M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta R5 World Rally Championship-2 entries 41 Benito Guerra Jaime Zapata Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia R5 42 Marco Bulacia Wilkinson Fabian Cretu Marco Bulacia Wilkinson Škoda Fabia R5 43 Pedro Heller Pablo Olmos Pedro Heller Ford Fiesta R5 44 Alberto Heller José Díaz Alberto Heller Ford Fiesta R5 Other notable entries 81 Ricardo Triviño Marc Martí Ricardo Triviño Škoda Fabia R5 Source:
Route All the stages are located in the state of Guanajuato. Compared with the 2018 edition, the route of the 2019 edition was shorter. The Duarte — Derramadero stage was removed. Instead, the Mesa Cuata stage joined the itinerary.
Itinerary
All dates and times are CST (UTC-6). Date Time No. Stage name Distance 7 March 10:00 —Llano Grande [Shakedown] 5.31 km Leg 1 — 115.33 km 7 March 20:08 SS1 Street Stage GTO 1.14 km 8 March 10:08 SS2 El Chocolate 1 31.57 km 11:16 SS3 Ortega 1 17.28 km 12:59 SS4 Street Stage Léon 1 1.11 km 15:17 SS5 El Chocolate 2 31.57 km 16:15 SS6 Ortega 2 17.28 km 17:18 SS7 Las Minas 1 10.72 km 18:58 SS8 V-Power Shell Stage 1 2.33 km 19:03 SS9 V-Power Shell Stage 2 2.33 km Leg 2 — 138.37 km 9 March 8:23 SS10 Guanajuatito 1 25.90 km 10:06 SS11 Otates 1 32.27 km 11:08 SS12 El Brinco 1 8.13 km 14:31 SS13 Guanajuatito 2 25.90 km 16:29 SS14 Otates 2 32.27 km 17:38 SS15 El Brinco 2 8.13 km 19:03 SS16 V-Power Shell Stage 3 2.33 km 19:08 SS17 V-Power Shell Stage 4 2.33 km 19:51 SS18 Street Stage Léon 2 1.11 km Leg 3 — 60.17 km 9:03 SS19 Alfaro 24.38 km 10:11 SS20 Mesa Cuata 25.07 km 12:18 SS21 10.72 km Source:
Report World Rally Cars The 2019 edition of Rally Mexico started with a curtailment of the opening stage due to an irreparable damaged jump. Andreas Mikkelsen took a short-lived lead on Friday morning, but the Norwegian lost his lead to Sébastien Ogier as they hit a rock and damaged the suspension. Teammate Dani Sordo also forced to retire from the day due to electrical issue. Jari-Matti Latvala was running in fourth before retiring with alternator failure. The other major retirement of the first leg was Teemu Suninen, who went off the road in his Fiesta. The young Finn retired from the rally in the end.
It turned out that Ogier was a lucky man. Despite a front-left puncture, he still reduced his time loss to just twenty seconds as his teammate Esapekka Lappi went off the road and caused the red flag, which saved his rally-winning chances. However, Kris Meeke wasn't as fortunate, as he suffered a puncture on the following Otates stage, with damaged suspension, which dropped him from the lead down to fifth place. Eventually, Ogier net his fifth Mexico victory with a power stage victory, surpassed Thierry Neuville in the drivers' standings in second, narrowing to four points off the championship leader Ott Tänak, who finished second overall, with Elfyn Evans got his first podium finish of the season.
The rally was not without controversy however. The damaged ramp was met with criticism, deeming it to be unnecessarily dangerous to both drivers and spectators, and allegations of cheating surfaced with Kris Meeke accusing Citroen of abusing red flag rules to give Ogier an unfair advantage; Meeke would later retract his statement in an apology.
Classification Position Driver Entrant Car Time Points Event Class Event Stage 1 1 1 Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 3:37:08.0 0.0 25 5 2 2 8 Ott Tänak Martin JärveojaToyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 3:37:38.2 +30.2 18 0 3 3 33 Elfyn Evans Scott Martin M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC 3:37:57.9 +49.9 15 0 4 4 11 Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRTHyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3:38:35.0 +1:27.0 12 3 5 5 5 Kris Meeke Sebastian Marshall Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 3:43:14.2 +6:06.2 10 4 8 6 10 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 3:56:03.9 +18:55.9 4 0 9 7 6 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3:59:52.1 +22:44.1 2 2 13 8 4 Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 4:40:48.5 +1:03:40.5 0 1 Retired SS21 89Andreas Mikkelsen Anders Jæger-Amland Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Withdrawn 0 0 Retired SS2 3 Teemu Suninen Marko Salminen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC Accident 0 0
Special stages Date No. Stage name Distance Winners Car Time Class leaders 7 March —Llano Grande [Shakedown] 5.31 kmMeeke / MarshallToyota Yaris WRC 3:44.2 SS1 Street Stage GTO 1.14 km Lappi / Ferm Citroën C3 WRC 1:00.6Lappi / Ferm 8 March SS2 El Chocolate 1 31.57 km Mikkelsen / Jæger-Amland Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 23:50.6 Mikkelsen / Jæger-Amland SS3 Ortega 1 17.28 km Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C3 WRC 9:29.0 SS4 Street Stage Léon 1 1.11 km Mikkelsen / Jæger-Amland Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1:04.9 SS5 El Chocolate 2 31.57 km Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C3 WRC 23:35.0 Ogier / Ingrassia SS6 Ortega 2 17.28 km Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C3 WRC 9:22.3 SS7 Las Minas 1 10.72 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 6:43.4 SS8 V-Power Shell Stage 1 2.33 km Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C3 WRC 1:39.0 SS9 V-Power Shell Stage 2 2.33 km Neuville / GilsoulTänak / Järveoja Hyundai i20 Coupe WRCToyota Yaris WRC 1:38.3 9 March SS10 Guanajuatito 1 25.90 km Meeke / Marshall Toyota Yaris WRC 17:44.9 Meeke / Marshall SS11 Otates 1 32.27 km Latvala / Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC 24:42.6 Ogier / Ingrassia SS12 El Brinco 1 8.13 km Ogier / IngrassiaLatvala / Anttila Citroën C3 WRCToyota Yaris WRC 4:40.0 SS13 Guanajuatito 2 25.90 km Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C3 WRC 17:33.6 SS14 Otates 2 32.27 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 24:25.2 SS15 El Brinco 2 8.13 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 4:36.6 SS16 V-Power Shell Stage 3 2.33 km Mikkelsen / Jæger-Amland Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1:39.4 SS17 V-Power Shell Stage 4 2.33 km Neuville / Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1:38.5 SS18 Street Stage Léon 2 1.11 km Sordo / del Barrio Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1:04.4 SS19 Alfaro 24.38 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 13:52.6 SS20 Mesa Cuata 25.07 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 19:18.8 SS21 10.72 km Ogier / Ingrassia Citroën C3 WRC 6:30.4
Championship standings Drivers' championships Co-drivers' championships Manufacturers' championshipsMoveDriverPointsMoveCo-driverPointsMoveManufacturerPoints 1 Ott Tänak 65 Martin Järveoja 65 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 86 2 1 Sébastien Ogier 61 1 Julien Ingrassia 61 1 Citroën Total WRT 78 3 1Thierry Neuville 55 1 Nicolas Gilsoul 55 1 Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 77 4 Kris Meeke 35 Sebastian Marshall 35 M-Sport Ford WRT 45 5 2 Elfyn Evans 28 2 Scott Martin 28
World Rally Championship-2 Pro The only WRC-2 Pro driver Łukasz Pieniążek was unable to complete Friday as he crashed out in SS6. After re-entering the rally, he enjoyed a trouble-free day and eventually won the category.
Classification Position Driver Entrant Car Time Points Event Class Class Event 11 1 21Łukasz Pieniążek Kamil HellerM-Sport Ford WRTFord Fiesta R5 4:22:31.1 0.0 25 0
Special stages Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.