Sebastien Ogier topped the times in a sun-kissed shakedown at the Che Guevara energy drink tour de Corse on Thursday morning.

Jari-Matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville posted the benchmark time through the opening pass of the 5.40km Sorbo Ocagnano test near the Bastia service park. Ogier eclipsed that time on his second run and went even faster in his Ford Fiesta WRC on his third and final attempt.

“I was really happy during our pre-event test and now in shakedown. The feeling in the first run wasn’t fantastic but we did some small adjustments and I have to say I have a good feeling with the Fiesta on asphalt, at the moment better than on gravel,” said Ogier.

“The experience of the previous events is helping. In Monte-Carlo we had a little bit of dry asphalt and we’ve had more time for testing, so I feel more and more ready for each rally.

“The route is the same as last year and that was only six months ago, so it feels we’re running in a place where we have a lot of references already. Shakedown was very close and it could be similar during the rally,” added Ogier, who defends a convincing 2016 win.

The Frenchman was quickest by 0.6sec, but behind him less than a second covered the next six drivers in the dry and sunny asphalt test.

Hayden Paddon charged up the order from eighth to second with a strong final run in his Hyundai i20 Coupe. Kris Meeke completed the top three in a Citroën C3, 0.3sec adrift of the Kiwi. The Briton also produced his best performance in the last of three runs.

Latvala’s Toyota Yaris and Neuville’s i20 Coupe were tied in fourth courtesy of their opening time, 0.2sec behind Meeke. Ott Tänak rounded out the top half dozen, another two-tenths behind in a Fiesta.

The leading times:

Kris Meeke won rally Guanajuato mexico on Sunday despite almost throwing victory away when he crashed less than a kilometre from the finish of the final speed test.

The Briton led for virtually the entire four-day dirt road event in a Citroen C3 to head Sebastien Ogier by 13.8sec after scrabbling back onto the road by driving through a spectator car park

His fourth career victory launched him up to sixth in the FIA World Rally Championship standings after miserable results from the opening two rounds in Monte-Carlo and Sweden.

Ogier, driving a Ford Fiesta in pursuit of his fifth consecutive world title, leads the championship after three of the 13 rounds by eight points from Jari-Matti Latvala.

Thierry Neuville finished third in a Hyundai i20 Coupe, 45.9sec behind Ogier, to bring relief for the Belgian after crashing out of the lead in the opening two rounds.

Neuville also won the final live TV Power Stage to claim five bonus points. Ogier took four points for second, while Ott Tänak secured three. Latvala and Dani Sordo took two and one point respectively.

WRC leader Sebastien Ogier has been cleared after investigations into his ford fiesta world rally car’s gearbox following last week’s rally Mexico.

Event stewards today (Tuesday) decided to take no action against the Frenchman and his M-Sport World Rally Team after further checks were carried out on the transmission, following initial inquiries in Mexico after the finish nine days ago.

Ogier finished the four-day rally in second place, but after post-event scrutineering in León FIA technical delegate Jérôme Toquet reported that the weight of Ogier’s gearbox apparently did not comply with the official paperwork.

M-Sport representatives, including team director Malcolm Wilson, were summoned by the stewards to a hearing at which it was agreed Ogier’s gearbox and the spare unit from team-mate Ott Tänak’s car would be sent to the FIA for further investigations.

Both gearboxes were compared to another homologated unit and found to comply and the stewards confirmed the results.

The decision means Ogier retains his eight point lead in the drivers’ standings over Jari-Matti Latvala. M-Sport remains 36 points clear of Toyota Gazoo Racing in the manufacturers’ points.

Thierry Neuville was fastest in shakedown at rally Guanajuato mexico on Wednesday evening as the new-era 2017 world rally cars faced gravel action for the first time in a rally environment.

There was huge anticipation in the Leon service park when crews headed out to the 5.31km Llano Grande test as onlookers waited for the first form guide from the new cars on dirt roads.

Neuville was quickest on his third and final pass through the test in a Hyundai i20 Coupe, 1.7sec quicker than Sébastien Ogier’s Ford Fiesta. Kris Meeke completed the top three in a Citroën C3, a further half second back.

Rally Sweden winner Jari-Matti Latvala was fourth in a Toyota Yaris, meaning all four different manufacturer teams were represented in the top four places.

The rally contains several sections of road that have never previously been used and Neuville warned they could cause problems.

“The rally is tricky and we need to be very, very careful in the new parts which are rough in places,” he said. “They will be slippery with a lot or rocks everywhere because the stages have been graded. They have made the roads wider, but taken a lot of stones from the roadside onto the tracks, so it will be tough.”

The Belgian denied feeling under pressure after crashing out of the lead at the opening two rounds in Monte-Carlo and Sweden.

“We’ve done many great things but obviously we weren’t able to get it to the end of the rally. We were a bit unlucky, hopefully we can bring home some good results now for the team.

“It’s important for the manufacturers’ championship but also for me in the drivers’ championship to catch some points on Ogier, Latvala and Tänak. The title is still possible. We can score 30 points on just one rally and they are only 40 points ahead,” he added.