Neuville rolls out, Ogier surges in Mexico

SebastienOgier - Cropped

World Rally Championship title-holder Sebastien Ogier strengthened his position at Rally Mexico on Friday thanks to Thierry Neuville's crash.

Neuville had started the second day of racing as Ogier's main rival but his tilt at the title came to an end on stage eight, picking up a puncture and then rolling off the road.

The Belgian slumped to 14th overall - seven minutes, 8.9 seconds behind Ogier, and although Neuville finished stage nine too, he withdrew before stage 10 - the last of the day.

France's Ogier set the fastest time on the 4.6-kilometre final stage with a time of 3:17 to claim a 13.5-second lead over Finn Jari-Matti Latvala in the overall standings.

Norway's Mads Ostberg (+29.5secs) sits third ahead of the penultimate day of racing.

Ogier won three stages for the day, while Neuville could only manage one victory before being forced to withdraw.

Having won the opening two events of the WRC season to earn a 23-point lead over second-placed Neuville, Ogier will take a big step towards a third consecutive world title if he can triumph in Mexico, although there are 10 rallies left in the 2015 campaign.

Meanwhile, Ott Tanak had a day to forget as he retired after planting his Ford Fiesta RS in a lake on stage three.

The Estonian, along with co-driver Raigo Molder, swam to safety as his car sank to the bottom, eventually becoming completely submerged.

"If you are in a lake, close to the limit of your life and fighting for it, when you finally win that fight it’s an amazing feeling," he said.

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