19. Rally Guanajuato México 2023
16. 3. – 19. 3. 2023, Guanajuato • Club Automovilístico Francés de México A.C. • gravel 312.09 km - (cancelled 14.82 km) • total distance including road sections - 964.28 km • Other years • Other years
36th Rally México
NACAM crews drive only until SS14 - last stage is considered as Power Stage.
NACAM crews drive only until SS14 - last stage is considered as Power Stage.
Info
SS23
"I like this stage! The car was great this weekend and it was a faultless weekend from us and the team. As I am doing the next rally in Croatia, it's important to start first on the road there and it was important to get the points for the team as well. I am proud, but this win is for my friend who I lost not long ago. I am thinking of him."
"It's not a surprise. We've been nursing a bent suspension arm since the first one this morning. We had to take it easy in a couple of places just to make sure we got back. It's a shame."
"I did what I could. Tänak was on two soft tyres I think, so maybe he was able to take a slight advantage from that. All weekend we have been on the limit and it was really exhausting towards the end. I hope we are going to end up in second place."
"I really enjoyed this stage but I didn't want to make a mistake. Now we need to wait to the next one in Portugal."
"I lost the rear wing when going wide in one place. We couldn't make the time because we didn't have any downforce. For sure, I would have wanted to have more points from the Power Stage."
"Hopefully we will not repeat this one any more. We need to do some changes - for sure we are not continuing this way."
"It's a very beautiful rally and we learned a lot."
"Codriver said to be flat on a jump and I must listen him."
"A few mistakes with my driving. We can take experience and I know it will be good for the future."
"The result, we did what we wanted, but we have to be honest - it was more or less because the other drivers had problems. Good points for the championship and many lessons learnt."
"From SS6, this whole rally was under control for me. When we needed to go faster we could gap everyone and after that it was just about controlling it and not making any mistakes. It's the perfect way to start the year."
"I had a compression on the previous stage and after that we were on three cylinders. I tried to check what was wrong, I checked every sensor, but couldn't find anything. I think P3 is great for the championship anyway."
"I'm sure we can improve our pace during the season, maybe in the next rally."
SS22
"Car is going only on three cylinders. A fast flat-left over a crest, we came into a dip and there was a massive rock in the line..."
"Let's see what happens... we'll keep trying."
"We were managing the tyres a bit in the morning. Let's see for the Power Stage - we won't go for the full attack, but we'll go for a decent drive."
"It was very much a zero-risk morning. Everything's under control."
"The auxiliary belt came off in the previous stage, so we lost power steering first. We drove around 10km like this and then the battery just died. We changed the belt on the side of the stage and then we restarted."
"Everything is okay. It's a really slippery stage. We are just taking it easy."
"Let's see. We tried to save a bit the tyres and still have a bit of pace in case something happens to the guys coming behind. We will try our best in the Power Stage."
"It wasn't so easy, but it was like the previous stage - like driving on ice. Staying on the road is tricky. We did a clean run in this one but I have no spare wheel, so I was very careful."
"We enjoyed. We had a hot moment near the finish but we escaped from it. It's okay."
"It's all okay... I am just making sure of a few things. But it's all okay."
"I stalled the car in a junction - a proper rookie mistake. It was my fault for sure. When the altitude is so high, you need to take care of the engine at low RPM and I failed to do that."
"I continue pushing. We won't give up. Elfyn has been fixing his car - he touched something & damaged his suspension in the previous stage."
"We had some damper trouble on the last one. Basically, we closed all the adjustments and it's effecting the dampers."
SS21
"It's hard work! Very slippery and really hard to judge. It looks like we didn't do so bad."
"Maybe Tänak has some sort of problem, I don't know. It's difficult to understand how the times are."
"It was in the very narrow part on a compression in a very slow corner. It's not going in our way, but okay. We will try to finish."
"The first part was really nice and it's clean, so I enjoyed a lot. But the second part is so slippery it's incredible - the difference is like 10 times!"
"We have done two passes of the beginning section and the grip was okay, but after that it feels like you on Mars or something - it's like you are on another planet!"
"The auxiliary belt came off, so we lost power steering first. We drove around 10km like this and then the battery just died. We changed the belt on the side of the stage and then we restarted."
Alternator belt
"It was zero risk drive."
"I had a good stage to be honest. There were a couple of dogs and rocks where I had to slow down."
"Beginning part, that we knew from yesterday was fine, but doing first time the end part - it was really slipper, much more than I expected.
We are safely through"
"Front damper is empty. Hopefully the finish is coming soon."
Puncture
SS20
"Better than I expected, to be honest! The car was getting caught in all the ruts and it was really hard to be smooth. It's fine, we still have a long way to go."
"It's very rutted, so the plan was to take it very easy and not take any risks that could put the tyre off the rim. There is a lot of kilometres to go and the next one is a very long stage."
"A small mistake, not very hard because we were going so slow! I could reverse and go again."
"The conditions are getting worse because this is the fourth pass. We have a long stage ahead so I need to focus for that."
"We haven't done a proper stage yet. Let's first do a proper stage."
"I stalled in the second corner, went a little bit wide and stalled the engine. I lost time there."
"In a compression I went out... I don't know."
"It's going to be an intense fight. I could really feel my body warming up through the stage because you have to fight with the car in the ruts!”
"We just try to have normal drive through today. This one was proper sh*t with all the ruts, so we just came through it. Hopefully we will have good tyres for power stage to do something."
Off road
Off road
Stalled
SS19
"I attacked maybe a little bit more this afternoon to try to get closer to Elfyn and it worked out quite okay. Unfortunately on the penultimate stage we had a puncture and we lost maybe two seconds. We are definitely going to go for it. We have tried hard all weekend and we are now in the fight for P2."
"It's been a good fight. I think Thierry has ever so slightly had the upper hand, but it's been close on most stages. Everything's been pretty okay, but still it would be nice to faster of course. We'll just keep at it - that's it. We have to give it our best shot and see what happens."
"I think this lead is good and I am happy with my day, it's been another strong day for me. We had a little bit of a different approach after Esapekka went off in the first stage this morning. We didn't need to go for too much risk, but still we managed to set some good times and increase our lead. Tomorrow is still long which means we can not afford to relax."
"It's been okay. We tried a new set-up and perhaps in the situation we're in, we didn't really need to try that. It made the afternoon very difficult and I couldn't match the pace I was on yesterday, but we know we can go back to the original set-up tomorrow and the pace will be there again."
"I was hoping for a bit more pace today, but when comparing all the times to the other guys it seems to be a bit tricky. The stage gets faster behind us, especially on the first pass. We tried our best and we are still here."
"Compared to yesterday it's been a fantastic day... It has generally been trouble-free technical-wise and quite a bit more fun, but we are still lacking. I struggle to find a way to drive the car fast and for me it's a bit unnatural. At least we are a bit closer than yesterday. It's just generally how the car is behaving and there are a lot of surprises. It's difficult to find the confidence when it's like this but we have learned some things today. I would like to believe it can only get better from here."
"In some of the stages we were a little bit frustrated. You can push more when you are fighting for something but it's a little bit difficult now. The rally is not finished yet and I think tomorrow we need to keep pushing and stay there. It's going to be a hard day."
"We have been cleaning a lot, so it's very slippery and you have to wait a lot before you put on the throttle. I am not sure if I am managing the technique fully! It's incredible here in Mexico - I have never seen fans like this anywhere else."
"Of course it was a difficult day. The stages are very demanding and quite low grip, so I was not really enjoying but it's good experience."
SS18
Spin
SS17
"Six kilometres before the finish - it was my fault. This is rally... this is the Rally of México. It's a shame, but that's how it is."
"I wasn't able to have a clean stage - I made a few mistakes. It's not bad, but I just lost a little bit of time."
"Interesting! The last part was quite nice, but I can't say the same for the beginning. I am really not finding a good rhythm or trusting the pace notes."
Puncture
"The time was a bit surprising in the last one, but I guess it was down to tyre management. Like I said, it was a clean drive but I was surprised about the gap."
"I don't know what we've changed this afternoon, but it's so difficult to drive the car. I don't know if it's just the road surface but I am fighting it everywhere. It didn't feel like a good stage, neither of them have."
"It was a pretty okay run from my side really. It's been a big fight from the start and he's been nibbling away. We just have to keep going."
"It was quite okay. I enjoyed the car and I had a bit more grip than the stage before, but the times after me are on another level and it's difficult to explain."
"I tried! I am on the edge everywhere but I struggle to make big gaps."
"I had a spin in a really narrow place. I was stuck between the barriers and I had to reverse many times."
"At least from the outside it looks fun... not so much from the inside."
Spin
"Before the jump, Aaron tightened his belts even more! I was laughing because he ready in case something happened."
"The conditions are a little bit better than in the previous stage. Very nice, a lot of fun."
Hit a bank, damaged suspension
SS16
"I wasn't sure how that would go. It didn't feel like the grip was so high in there but it looks like it was the same for everybody. I'm just driving to the grip, really."
"I think it's all down to tyre management because I felt a lot that the tyre was dropping towards the end. I am anyway very smooth with that so I believe they suffered more than me."
"I thought it was better than this, to be honest. I had a very good run through the stage and I expected a big gap already to Kalle. It won't be enough like this for the weekend, but we'll keep going."
"I am just trying to enjoy and trying different set-ups for the future. It's really slippery from the rear - all the time it's sliding too much and it's quite difficult."
"There is always some margin when you don't need to push 100 per cent. It's still quite slippery and I know the guys from behind will be faster anyway. I can not do much more."
"It's a bit of progress, but it's a good step."
"Still slippery. We are still cleaning, but less than this morning. I think we improved by about nine seconds. Not top, but we had a good feeling and it was nice."
"The confidence is hard to find right now but I will try to find it during the weekend."
"When you are second on the road it's tricky to have a feeling.
SS13
"I am even more in safe mode with my driving now. It's not a big gap, but we are trying to avoid every rock and being as safe as we can."
"Very slippery in some places. I think the road cleaning effect is more than yesterday, but in this position it's impossible to catch people. We need to keep pushing and enjoy the driving."
"It felt pretty okay. I think the one hard tyre on the car is quite tricky in the first pass. It's quite slippery all the time. There is not much we can do about the guys behind on the road, but at least we are faster than those in front."
"The target is to go as fast as possible but we have to be clever as well - we need to keep the car on the road. I tried to manage the speed in here but it's not easy. The grip is changing all the time."
"I had a pretty good run at the end, but I was far too careful at the beginning. Whe things are going well everything is working quite okay."
"The cleaning is there, but that's part of the game. We still had a lot of fun in this stage and I like it very much. It's a nice stage."
"For sure, today we are opening the road so it's a bit tricky. We are trying to drive well but it's very slippery. I am trying to enjoy."
"It's quite a nice stage, especially at the end. It's very high-speed and you can enjoy the road, but the grip is still quite low and it's not so easy to drive."
"We have been trying to learn a bit. It's been a difficult morning and I would say the last stage was worse. This one was a bit better but generally I struggled. Let's see this afternoon."
SS11
"That's a shame for Lappi. I always enjoy the fight and yesterday he was really having an amazing speed so it's a real shame."
"The stage was okay, but the grip near the end was quite low and I was maybe a bit careful there."
"The target is to concentrate on the job in hand and go stage by stage. We're doing the best we can and it was all fine in there."
"It's quite slippery, but of course we expected this kind of feeling. The end was slippier than I expected."
"Very slippery at the end. It was difficult to feel the braking points, but we will see later."
"So slippery. We are cleaning a lot, but okay. We have completed one stage so it's a better day than yesterday."
Accident
"It was just the last junction, we went a bit wide. No big drama."
"Yesterday afternoon's issue seems to be fixed, but I can't drive the car fast at the moment."
"After yesterday it's important to take maximum experience."
SS10
"It's been a good day and I think we can be happy. There was not much more we could do except for taking a lot of risks, and that's never an approach we want to have on this rally. I think Esapekka has done a great job, so well done to him for today, but there's still a long way to go. The fight is on and I will keep doing the same tomorrow. We are still pushing but not trying to overdo it."
"I am a bit surprised, but I take it as it is. This was probably one of the best days of my career. I always hoped that I could fight at the top, but to be leading and fighting against Séb was never in my mind. I didn't really think about how this day would go, but I was just confident that our pace would be good."
"It's been a tough day. There were some other issues which I didn't notice this morning, so we have to look at it now. We are even struggling to match some of the R5s, so for sure it would be nice if we could find some pace."
"I am pretty happy with fifth. In previous years there has been more time loss in the first loop on some stages, and we were not so far off today. I think we did all we could do. Now the starting position is better, so tomorrow we need to try to use it well and hopefully fight with the guys who are close with us."
"I have been working on the car. We had a broken front left driveshaft boot and we were afraid the driveshaft was going to break because most of the grease was gone. We were having to repair it after every stage and we are lucky to be here."
"It's been okay, but not as fast as we would've liked. There's always a balance here between pushing and looking after the car. Maybe we were a bit cautious at points, but we're still here. There's a long way to go and I'm not really looking in any direction. We're concentrating on our own job for now."
SS9
"Slippery, yes, but in reality it was an okay run. We had one miss over a crest and we couldn't see where the road was, but only one second."
"For sure, it's cleaning a lot and we knew we would suffer in here by only taking one soft tyre this afternoon. I did the best I could in here."
"After the puncture in the previous stage I am pushing like hell now. We lost a lot of time but it's a long rally still. We are pushing hard and seeing how high we can climb."
"It's a really good fight with Greensmith and we are pushing. It's been a good day. We still have one stage to go and it will be interesting."
"The rear-right damper was completely blocked, but on the road section we got it free again and it was working okay in here. There is a lot of cleaning in here and we need to be prepared to lose a lot of time."
"It didn't feel like a good run. I struggled to turn a bit and I didn't drive so well. Overall, the afternoon hasn't been that bad, but that last one didn't feel as good as the previous one."
"So far, so good. Still a small one to go and the gaps are small. This one was very slippery and twisty, so difficult to get some speed."
"It's a fun stage, but a little bit tricky with the stones. It was nice to drive but the time is not really good."
SS8
"It's a rally which can bite hard when you push too hard. We are trying to keep our pace and so far it's going okay. It's a nice fight with Lappi."
"I was saving the tyres for this one... no, I'm joking! I have been driving with the same rhythm all day and trying to be clean. I think in here we managed to do it well and the time is okay. The car is feeling great, so I can enjoy."
"At the start of the previous stage, the car started to pull from the rear and it was really strange. At the end we had a puncture."
"I struggled, to be honest. I didn't feel like I had any grip at all, so we just need to have a look and see why that is. Just struggling for grip, basically."
Puncture
"It was fine I would say. There is a lot of cleaning but I am sliding a lot with the weight of the two spare wheels."
"I don't know... I had something strange on the rear and I can't control the car since the previous stage. Probably the damper has been damaged. It feels like the rear is really stiff and it's not working anymore."
"We try to learn as much as we can,"
SS7
Puncture
SS6
"Some guys in front of us did this stage in the morning, but anyway, I tried to be smooth. My driving is very delicate so it's safe at this moment."
"As soon as we put the hard tyres on the car it felt better, but at the end we had quite a big drop in power. We need to have a look. It was nothing massive, but definitely a noticeable drop in power."
"I think I took a bit of a risk with my tyres. I went with soft tyres on the rear and maybe it didn't work. Gus has one spare and I have two spares, so I don't know about that either. We'll see."
"Sorry, I have to go... it was a clean stage."
"I thought it was a decent run but it's also quite slippery and I didn't want to take any risks. It's okay, the rally is still long."
"It was good. I had a good feeling but the times are not so quick. To do the times of Séb and Esapekka is difficult. I will continue to drive but we are a little bit of a step away from the top."
"Just clean. You can not attack or you will crash. Staying on the line is the key. The car is never perfect, but it's quite good."
"I had a good stage so I'm happy with this one."
"It was really slippery. Didn't feel good, but I tried to do what I could with what I had."
"It's still cleaning a lot for the guys behind."
"To be honest it was a perfect run."
"Turbo is fine now."
SS5
"We were running fifth on the road this morning and it's much better than being first! The only thing is that sometimes with the rocks you have to be careful. I am just focusing on driving clean."
"I have to be satisfied with this. Seb has won this rally so many times and we can match his pace, so I need to be very pleased with that. The driving is never perfect and there were a few places where I lost a few tenths here and there. There is room for improvement, so let's try to do that in the afternoon."
"Not a good morning for us. The driving was very good but we got caught by a big bump in the road which wasn't there in recce and we lost the hybrid, so we struggled in all the uphills."
"The car is moving quite a lot all the time, but I will do some set-up changes to try and keep the car more in the lines."
Accident
"The last downhill part was particularly slippery with some loose gravel on top."
"I hit something by rear and we lost the hybrid on the stage."
"There's nothing I can do here. now going back to service and see."
SS4
Spin
"I don't know... we will see."
"Not too bad. It's difficult to know how much grip is available in these conditions. It's definitely slippery out there."
"It was not dust it was proper smoke. Something was burning in the car and I had to open the window."
"I didn't drive very well. I lose a bit of time at the end because I didn't have a lot of confidence. The car is moving like hell all the time and it's difficult."
"It wasn't great. The soft tyres are moving a lot and it's hard to find any precision whatsoever. There were a few times where I got out of the line and was losing time."
Rolled
"We need to improve the first section on the second pass."
"The grip is always tricky in El Chocolate, but this one was more easy to judge."
"A bump came as a surprise and I thought we were going to go off." / "Ten náraz přišel nečekaně, myslel jsem, že jdeme ven."
"I've made some changes on setup, but not worked. Somebody made new bump after recce, it was very hard impact."
SS3
Accident
"Very slippery. I tried to keep the car in the line but I don't have lateral grip."
"If we can match Ogier, we are on the right track."
Lost wheel
"It's difficult. Very slippery, still for me, but the road will be getting cleaner after every car. The hybrid is helping, but with the slippery conditions it's not easy."
"Too cautious in places, very slippery."
"We have some turbo related issue."
"We are missing something related to traction to go faster."
"It's better to have at least one line than nothing!"
Turbo issue
SS2
"Tomorrow will be completely different. This was really nice."
"The atmosphere is amazing. To honour Ken on the wall is a great thing. The donut was difficult but it was good fun. The people here are incredible. I love the passion."
"The people make it special and sure the stages are really nice but the atmosphere is what makes it."
"A lot of people here, nice to start like this. Let's see how tomorrow goes."
"We don't get many stages in the championship like this. I just wanted to enjoy this one tonight."
"Let's see what tomorrow will bring, I've never driven on gravel with this car."
"I think it's quite clear, but it's crazy atmosphere. Usually this kind of stages are not enjoyable, but when you drive to fans like this this it's quite nice. Tomorrow it's time to sweep the road so let's see."
"We know tomorrow will be a tough day for us regarding starting position."
"The real start of the rally is tomorrow. Tonight it was all about enjoying the atmosphere... and staying away from the curbs! So far so good!"
"It's amazing, it's hardly know where is such atmosphere."
"It's fantastic to be in Mexico, we will do maximum to do a strong race."
"I was surprised I was so good!"
SS1
"It is very tricky stage, but it is fun."