French Sebastian Ogier steers his Polo R WRC during the shakedown of the World Rally Championship in Leon, Mexico, on Thursday. (AFP)

 

Agencies/Leon, Mexico


The French duo of Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia held a slender advantage of 1.2 seconds after two short opening special stages of the 12th Rally Guanajuato Corona, round three of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship, on Thursday evening.
In WRC2, defending champion and Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah is fourth in the overall standings after he finished fifth in the second super special stage. Al-Attiyah is behind Ukraine’s Yuriy Protasov, Finland’s Jari Ketomaa and Peruvian Nicolas Fuchs in the overall standings.
Another Qatari Abdulaziz al-Kuwari is sixth in the standings.
Volkswagen teammates, Andreas Mikkelsen and Ole Floene, reached the overnight halt tied in second overall with Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul.
“I think my strategy is pretty easy,” said Ogier. “I try to push. Because the start position is a little bit difficult for me. You never know. It will be a long rally with a lot of kilometres. For sure, to be at the press conference and on the podium at the end of the rally, I will try. I love the rally, the profile of the stages. I will try and get some fun and go as fast as I can and see each day where we are.”
French WRC2 leader Stephane Lefebvre led 29 other starters into the spectacular send off in front of tens of thousands of spectators outside the Alh?ndiga de Granaditas in the historic city of Guanajuato.
Thierry Neuville, like all his main rivals, is a fan of the traditional Mexican start proceedings: “It’s the best start of the whole season. It is a very nice area and a lovely atmosphere. People are loving the drivers and the girls are crying, so it is always nice and we love it too! I try to get the best out of it. It is a pleasure to be here.”
Andreas Mikkelsen endured a fraught debut in Mexico last year and has played down his chance of winning. “Last year I had two crashes in three days so not a very good history. I treat this like a new event. I believe consistent fast stages are the way to go.”
Protasov snatched a lead of 3.5 seconds over the Drive DMACK World Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5 of Ketomaa in WRC2. Protasov was quickest on both stages.
“With the long stages, some people think this rally is easy, but it is never easy,” said defending WRC2 champion al-Attiyah. “It’s very hard for the cars. We try to manage without problems. That is the clear strategy that is needed. We also need to be fast. The shakedown was good for us. My car was working very well. I am quite happy and ready. A lot of people tonight. It was a nice super special.”

WRC standings (top three)
1. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Julien Ingrassia (FRA) Volkswagen Polo R WRC 4min 13.0sec
2. Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL) Hyundai i20 WRC 4min 14.2sec
3. Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)/Ole Floene (NOR) Volkswagen Polo R WRC 4min 14.2sec
WRC2 standings
1. Yuriy Protasov (UKR)/Pavlo Cherepin (UKR) Ford Fiesta RRC 4min 21.8sec
2. Jari Ketomaa (FIN)/Kaj Lindstr?m (FIN) Ford Fiesta R5
 4min 25.3sec
3. Nicolas Fuchs (PER)/Fernando Mussano (ARG) 4min 25.5sec
4. Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Ford Fiesta RRC 4min 27.7sec
6. Abdulaziz al-Kuwari (QAT)/Marshall Clarke (GBR) Ford Fiesta RRC 4min 33.2sec