Dominant Suninen masters Mexico gravel
Finn almost 20 minutes clear in WRC 2
Suninen kick-starts WRC 2 campaign with victory
Teemu Suninen began his WRC 2 season with victory at Rally Guanajuato Mexico on Sunday by a massive 20-minute margin.
Hot and dusty gravel mountain roads near León took a heavy toll on the field in the WRC's principal support category and after ending the opening leg more than seven minutes clear, Suninen measured his pace through the rest of the rally.
As the problems increased for others, the Finn avoided issues and eventually brought his Skoda Fabia R5 to the finish 20min 11.6sec ahead of Poland's Hubert Ptaszek, who netted a career-best result in a Peugeot 208 T16.
"It wasn't easy today but the plan was to keep the car on the road. Other drivers had problems and made mistakes and hopefully we can fight with Elfyn Evans during the season," said Suninen.
Evans won in Monte-Carlo and Sweden and retains the championship lead, despite not competing in Mexico. He began his British Championship campaign this weekend with victory in Wales.
Ptaszek survived a string of problems on Friday and drove with only two-wheel drive for much of yesterday but recovered to finish 3min 53.8sec ahead of Max Rendina's Ford Fiesta R5. Nicolas Fuchs was fourth, the Peruvian another to suffer many issues, with Armin Kremer the only other finisher in fifth.
The German who retired on both Friday and Saturday with suspension problems, was fastest on both today's stages.
Abdulaziz Al Kuwari was the sole retirement today, the Qatari retiring his Fabia R5 in the final stage.
Head to WRC+ to see the latest onboard and video reports from Rally Guanajuato Mexico.
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