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Six-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier put his stamp on this week's Rally Mexico with an assured first loop of stages in the mountains outside Guanajuato.

Having admitted to being preoccupied by the threat of Coronavirus ahead of the event, Ogier delivered on his promise to banish such thoughts on the first full day and his Toyota Yaris holds a nine-second lead at the lunchtime service halt.

The day began with Hyundai's Thierry Neuville holding a 1.1s lead over Toyota's British ace Elfyn Evans.

As joint championship leaders, however, this gave them the unfavourable position of running first and second on the road and sweeping the roughest gravel aside for those behind them.

The first man to capitalise upon his better road position was defending world champion Ott Tänak, who charged from third to first on the famous 31km El Chocolate stage that started this morning's action.

However, Hyundai's Estonian driver then dropped nearly a minute on the next stage after running wide and damaging the rear of his car; allowing Ogier through to lead.

On the third stage of the morning it was the third Hyundai of Dani Sordo who set fastest time, less than a second in front of Tanak.

Unfortunately for the Spaniard, who started as a favourite for the event, he is clawing back more than five minutes lost after his radiator came loose on El Chocolate.

Ogier retained the overall lead and was able to add a little more to the cushion back to his nearest pursuer, M-Sport's Teemu Suninen.

Neuville and Evans asserted themselves to claim first and second-fastest times coming back out of the mountains to close the loop in the Parque Bicentenario, with Ogier in third.

Heading out for the second loop, the consistency of Ogier, Sunninen and M-Sport's other Finnish driver Esapekka Lappi, currently fourth, has served them well.

Some impressive damage limitation by Neuville in third and Evans in fifth keeps them within striking distance over the rest of the event, while Tanak and Sordo, in seventh and 15th respectively, have an extra mountain to climb over the next two days.

Results at the end of Friday's morning loop:

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap 1 RC1 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 46m50.3s - 0 2 RC1 Teemu Suninen, J.Lehtinen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 47m00.0s 9.7s 0 3 RC1 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 47m00.6s 10.3s 0 4 RC1 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 47m06.9s 16.6s 0 5 RC1 Elfyn Evans, S.Martin Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 47m09.4s 19.1s 0 6 RC1 Kalle Rovanpera, J.Halttunen Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 47m21.7s 31.4s 0 7 RC1 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 47m28.9s 38.6s 0 8 RC1 Gus Greensmith, E.Edmondson M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 47m37.2s 46.9s 0 9 WRC2 Pontus Tidemand, P.Barth Toksport WRT Skoda 49m30.1s 2m39.8s 0 10 WRC2 Nikolay Gryazin, Y.Fedorov Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai 49m53.5s 3m03.2s 0 11 WRC3 Marco Bulacia Wilkinson, G.Bernacchini Marco Bulacia Wilkinson Citroen 50m01.5s 3m11.2s 0 12 WRC3 Emilio Fernandez, R.Garcia Toksport WRT Skoda 51m21.1s 4m30.8s 0 13 RC1 Dani Sordo, C.del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 52m09.9s 5m19.6s 0 14 WRC3 Ricardo Trivino, M.Marti Ricardo Trivino Bujalil Skoda 52m35.2s 5m44.9s 0 15 RC2 Ricardo Cordero Jr., M.H.Valdez Ricardo Cordero Citroen 53m49.0s 6m58.7s 0 16 WRC2 Ole-Christian Veiby, J.Andersson Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai 54m19.8s 7m29.5s 0 17 RC2 Barry McKenna, J.Fulton Barry McKenna Skoda 56m06.0s 9m15.7s 0 18 RC2 John Coyne, S.Joyce John Coyne Ford 56m28.5s 9m38.2s 0 19 WRC3 Gianluca Linari, N.Arena Gianluca Linari Ford 57m16.8s 10m26.5s 0 20 WRC3 Kajetan Kajetanowicz, M.Szczepaniak Kajetan Kajetanowicz Skoda 57m30.0s 10m39.7s 0 21 RC5 Martin Suriani, Z.Garcia Martin Suriani Renault 58m47.7s 11m57.4s 0 22 RC5 Francisco Name, A.Zapata Franciso Name Renault 59m24.0s 12m33.7s 0 23 RC5 Gustavo Uriostegui, D.Hernandez Gustavo A. Uriostegui Renault 1h02m17.5s 15m27.2s 0 24 NAT2 Enrique Meza Reynoso, C.J.Coronel Enrique Jose Meza Reynoso Ford 1h03m11.4s 16m21.1s 0 25 NAT Miguel Granados, A.Carmona Miguel Granados Mitsubishi 1h03m45.8s 16m55.5s 0 26 RC5 Gerardo Rejon Basanez, M.Pimentel Gerardo Rejon Basanez Renault 1h06m04.2s 19m13.9s 0 27 NAT4 Serge Brachet, F.Suberville Serge Brachet Mitsubishi 1h11m37.8s 24m47.5s 0 28 NAT2 Alejandro Sanchez, A.D.Villegas Alejandro Mauro Sanchez Ford 1h15m26.9s 28m36.6s 0