Sebastien Ogier overcame the handicap of opening the roads to lead Rally Mexico after a remarkably dramatic morning.
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He was third in the opening Los Mexicanos stage as Thierry Neuville reduced Ogier’s overnight lead to two-tenths of a second.
But the Frenchman was quickest through the following El Chocolate to head the Belgian by 13.3sec.
Drivers struggled to get heat into their tyres as air temperatures were unusually chilly at 7°C, and Neuville clipped a bank after sliding wide in SS3.
He also reported his Hyundai i20 was leaking dust into the cockpit.
Fifth and fourth in the two stages was enough for Jari-Matti Latvala to hold third, 0.8sec behind Neuville.
Second in El Chocolate promoted Mads Ostberg from ninth to fourth after the Norwegian spun in the previous test.
Hayden Paddon stopped 3.1km into El Chocolate after damaging the rear right suspension of his
Hyundai i20 while Kris Meeke crashed his DS 3 just 1.5km after the start.
Also out is Robert Kubica. The Pole was fastest at the second split but came to a halt after about 15km.
He tried to continue on several occasions but stopped after about 20km, although it is not yet known what his problems were.
Dani Sordo dropped 40sec with gear selection issues at the start of SS4, and his woes increased when his i20’s windscreen fogged up after a watersplash.
