The event was based in the town of León in Guanajuato, and was contested over twenty-two special stages totalling a competitive distance of 344.49 km (214.06 mi).

Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul entered the round with a ten-point lead in the World Championship for Drivers and Co-drivers.

Dani Sordo, who targeted himself for a podium finish, led nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb by 7.2 seconds after two days.

Ott Tänak, 11 seconds off the pace in third, drove around overheating problems in his Toyota Yaris, ahead of last year winner Kris Meeke.

The road opener fared worst in the conditions and lost more than 20 seconds due to a fuel pressure problem and a power steering issue in his i20.

Nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb took an early lead from Dani Sordo, who finished third after the day, until he suffered a front left puncture.

The 44-year-old Frenchman conceded almost two and a half minutes when he stopped to change the wheel after hitting a stone in his Citroën C3 and plunged to fifth, while defending world champion Sébastien Ogier took over the lead position with four consecutive stage wins in the afternoon.

The Estonian limped through the second half with a turbo boost problem in his Toyota Yaris and retired soon after, which made Andreas Mikkelsen and championship leader Thierry Neuville climb up to fourth and sixth respectively.

[10] By virtue this win, he recaptured the position of championship leader from Thierry Neuville, who had a terrible weekend and finished sixth overall.

Kris Meeke lost second place to Friday leader Dani Sordo after a half roll this morning.

WRC 2 winner Pontus Tidemand finished seventh ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala, who fought back onto the leaderboard after retiring his Toyota Yaris on Friday with alternator problems.