2020 Rally Mexico

2020 Rally Mexico 17. Rally Guanajuato Mexico
Round 3 of 7 in the 2020 World Rally Championship ← Previous event Next event →
Crews had to face the challenge of Mexico's high-altitude terrain.
Host country	Mexico
Rally base	León, Guanajuato
Dates run	12 – 15 March 2020
Start location	Guanajuato City, Guanajuato
Finish location	León, Guanajuato
Stages	24 (324.85 km; 201.85 miles)[1]
Stage surface	Gravel
Transport distance	634.40 km (394.20 miles)
Overall distance	959.25 km (596.05 miles)
Statistics
Crews registered	40
Crews	34 at start, 21 at finish
Cancellation	Final leg cancelled due to travel restrictions to Europe.
Overall results
Overall winner	Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 2:47:47.6
Power Stage winner	cancelled
Support category results
WRC-2 winner	Pontus Tidemand Patrick Barth Toksport WRT 2:58:16.9
WRC-3 winner	Marco Bulacia Wilkinson Giovanni Bernacchini 3:01:25.1

The 2020 Rally Mexico (also known as the Rally Guanajuato Mexico 2020) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 12 and 15 March 2020.^[2] It marked the seventeenth running of Rally Mexico and was the third round of the 2020 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3. The 2020 event was based in the town of León in Guanajuato and consists of eleven special stages. The rally covered a total competitive distance of 324.85 km (201.85 mi).^[1]

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were the defending rally winners.^[3] Citroën World Rally Team, the team they drove for in 2019, were the reigning manufacturers' winners, but were not defending their title after parent company Citroën withdrew from the sport.^[4] Łukasz Pieniążek and Kamil Heller were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not compete the rally.^[5][a] In the World Rally Championship-3 category, Local privateers Benito Guerra and Jaime Zapata were the reigning rally winners.^[5][b]

Ogier and Ingrassia successfully defended their titles, clinching their sixth Mexico win. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, were the manufacturers' winners.^[6] Pontus Tidemand and Patrick Barth were the winners in the WRC-2 category.^[7] Marco Bulacia Wilkinson and Giovanni Bernacchini were the winners in the WRC-3 category, winning their first victory in the class.^[8]

Elfyn Evans (left) and Scott Martin (right) lead both drivers' and co-drivers' championships for the first time in their careers.

Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin entered the round as championships leaders. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul were second, albeit they were level on points. Six-time world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were third, a slender five points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT held a ten-point lead over defending manufacturers' champions Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, following by M-Sport Ford WRT.

In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen held a twenty-point lead ahead of Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively, with Nikolay Gryazin and Yaroslav Fedorov in third. In the manufacturer' championship, M-Sport Ford WRT led PH-Sport by two points.

In the World Rally Championship-3 standings, the crew of Eric Camilli and François-Xavier Buresi, and Jari Huttunen and Mikko Lukka tied in the standings. They led drivers' and co-drivers' standings by seven points respectively, ahead of Nicolas Ciamin and Yannick Roche.

The following crews entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, its support categories, the World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3, and Junior World Rally Championship and privateer entries that were not registered to score points in any championship. Forty entries were received, with ten crews entered in World Rally Cars, three Group R5 cars entered in the World Rally Championship-2 and eleven in the World Rally Championship-3.

No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Entrant	Car	Tyre
World Rally Championship entries
3	Teemu Suninen	Jarmo Lehtinen	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
4	Esapekka Lappi	Janne Ferm	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
6	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
8	Ott Tänak	Martin Järveoja	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
11	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
17	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
33	Elfyn Evans	Scott Martin	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
34	Deividas Jocius	Mindaugas Varža	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	—
44	Gus Greensmith	Elliott Edmondson	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
69	Kalle Rovanperä	Jonne Halttunen	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
World Rally Championship-2 entries
20	Nikolay Gryazin	Yaroslav Fedorov	Hyundai Motorsport N[c]	Hyundai NG i20 R5	P
21	Ole Christian Veiby	Jonas Andersson	Hyundai Motorsport N[c]	Hyundai NG i20 R5	P
22	Pontus Tidemand	Patrick Barth	Toksport WRT	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
World Rally Championship-3 entries
23	Oliver Solberg	Aaron Johnston	Oliver Solberg[d]	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
24	Paulo Nobre	Gabriel Morales	Paulo Nobre[e]	Škoda Fabia R5	—
25	Kajetan Kajetanowicz	Maciej Szczepaniak	Kajetan Kajetanowicz[f]	Škoda Fabia R5	P
26	Benito Guerra	Daniel Cué	Benito Guerra	Škoda Fabia R5	M
27	Marco Bulacia Wilkinson	Giovanni Bernacchini	Marco Bulacia Wilkinson[g]	Citroën C3 R5	P
28	Alberto Heller	José Díaz	Alberto Heller	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	M
29	Ricardo Triviño	Marc Martí	Ricardo Triviño	Škoda Fabia R5	P
30	Gianluca Linari	Nicola Arena	Gianluca Linari	Ford Fiesta R5	P
31	Radik Shaymiev	Maxim Tsvetkov	Radik Shaymiev	Ford Fiesta R5	—
32	Emilio Fernández	Ruben Garcia	Toksport WRT	Škoda Fabia R5	M
34	Barry McKenna	James Fulton	Barry McKenna	Škoda Fabia R5	M
Other major entries
43	Ken Block	Alex Gelsomino	Ken Block[h]	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	T
Source:[9]

All the stages are located in the state of Guanajuato.^[1] The final day of the rally was cancelled in response to increased travel restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the rally concluded following stage 21, with full points awarded at the end of Saturday.^[10]

All dates and times are CST (UTC-6).

The rally was run during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, and came at a time when a series of motorsport events—including Rally Argentina, rounds of the 2020 Formula One World Championship, 2019-20 World Endurance Championship, 2020 World Rallycross Championship and 2020 World Touring Car Cup—were either postponed or cancelled. Organisers of the rally decided to shorten the itinerary by cancelling the final leg of the event. This was done to allow teams time to pack up their equipment and return to their headquarters before a series of travel bans were imposed by European countries trying to manage the virus.^[11]

It was a nightmare Friday for the Hyundai squad. An early radiator pipe issue Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio cost them over five minutes, and a late terminal engine issue sent the Spanish crew out of the rally; Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja dropped over forty seconds when they picked up damage to the rear-right corner after leading the rally shortly; Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul was running third overall, but they had to retire from the day with electrical gremlins.^[12][13] One more major retirement came from Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm when their Fiesta caught fire.^[14] Six-time world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia managed to stay out of dramas, and won his first rally of the season after the rally ended prematurely.^[6]

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1		2	Sébastien Ogier	62		2	Julien Ingrassia	62			Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	110
2		1	Elfyn Evans	54		1	Scott Martin	54			Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	89
3		1	Thierry Neuville	42		1	Nicolas Gilsoul	42			M-Sport Ford WRT	65
4			Kalle Rovanperä	40			Jonne Halttunen	40
5		1	Ott Tänak	38		1	Martin Järveoja	38

Pontus Tidemand and Patrick Barth dominated the rally, winning their first rally in the season.^[15][7]

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1			Mads Østberg	50			Torstein Eriksen	50		2	Hyundai Motorsport N	74
2		1	Nikolay Gryazin	41		1	Yaroslav Fedorov	41		1	M-Sport Ford WRT	52
3		3	Pontus Tidemand	40		3	Patrick Barth	40		1	PH-Sport	50
4		1	Ole Christian Veiby	33		1	Jonas Andersson	33			Toksport WRT	40
5		3	Adrien Fourmaux	30		3	Renaud Jamoul	30

Marco Bulacia Wilkinson and Giovanni Bernacchini led the category, and eventually won their maiden victory in the class.^[8] Early leaders Oliver Solberg and Aaron Johnston retired from the rally when they hit a rock and smashed his Polo's sump.^[16]

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points
1			Eric Camilli	25			François-Xavier Buresi	25
2			Jari Huttunen	25			Mikko Lukka	25
3			Marco Bulacia Wilkinson	25			Giovanni Bernacchini	25
4		1	Nicolas Ciamin	18		1	Yannick Roche	18
5		1	Emil Lindholm	18		1	Mikael Korhonen	18

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2020 Rally Mexico.

• Official website (in Spanish and English)
• 2020 Rally Mexico at ewrc-results.com
• The official website of the World Rally Championship