WATCH: M-Sport Ford's Morning of Misery
Friday morning at Guanajuato Rally México could only be described as a disaster for M-Sport Ford, with all three of the British squad's Puma Rally1 cars running into trouble on the opening El Chocolate test.
Championship leader Ott Tänak, who led after back-to-back runs of Thursday evening's super special, was the first to hit drama. The Estonian limped to the end of the 29.07km stage with turbo failure, dropping almost eight minutes in the process. It is not yet known whether he will be able to complete the remainder of the loop.
M-Sport's number two, Pierre-Louis Loubet, faltered shortly afterwards when he hit a rock on the inside of a right-hand bend. The impact caused steering damage, sidelining the youngster for the day.
Greek privateer Jourdan Serderidis was involved in an incident which left his Puma blocking the road. While Serderidis and his co-driver Fréderic Miclotte were unharmed, the stage had to be red-flagged whilst the car was moved to a safe position.