Benito Guerra, Jr.

Benito Iván Guerra Latapí (born 25 March 1985) is a Mexican rally driver competing for Citroën Racing, a privateer team in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2013, with his co-driver Borja Rozada.

In 2012, Guerra won the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) and became a World Champion.

Personal life Guerra's father is Benito Guerra Sr., a vintage racing driver like La Carrera Panamericana and Notary public in Mexico City, his mother is Mercedes Guerra (née Latapí), a CPA. Benito has a younger sister named Mercedes, a fan of motorsport.

Career

2006 – 2010 Guerra made his World Rally Championship debut on his home event Rally Mexico in 2006, finishing the event in 26th. In 2007, he started both Rally Mexico and Rally Argentina, but retired from both with mechanical problems. He finished 14th on the 2008 Rally México, winning the Group N category. In 2009, he won the Spanish Production title, winning the Spanish gravel title outright in 2010. He finished 15th overall and fourth in PWRC on the 2010 Rally México.

2011 Guerra began 2011 by finishing 11th overall on Rally Mexico, and then committed to a PWRC programme. He finished fourth in PWRC in Portugal, fourth in Australia and third in Spain. At the end of the season, Guerra finished sixth overall, scoring 47 WRC points.

2012

Guerra and his co-driver Borja Rozada, won in México, Argentina and España rallies, plus a second place in Germany, thereby the Mexican-Spaniard duo got the PWRC world championship with 109 points, over the Argentinian team Marcos Ligato and Rubén García (88 points). So, Guerra became the first Mexican rally driver to win a World Championship, and the second Mexican to earn a title in the world of motorsport. Until then, Pedro Rodríguez(†) was the only one who had achieved in 1970 and 1971 at the World Sportscar Championship with JW-Porsche.

Race of Champions

That same year, Guerra was invited to participate in the 25th edition of the Race of Champions, from 14 to 16 December in Bangkok along with racing legends like Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. His teammate of Team Americas is the Texan Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2012 IndyCar Series champion.

Guerra considered it to be a “a great end-of-season challenge", stating that he was extremely excited.

In the Nations Cup race, Guerra beat Jorge Lorenzo and the ROC Champion of Champions of 2011, Sébastien Ogier but was defeated by Andy Priaulx, due to a penalty. Therefore, the Team Americas was eliminated in the first round because Hunter-Reay was defeated in two of his three rounds.

In the Champion of Champions event Guerra was eliminated in the first round. At the end, the overall winner of the ROC 2012 was F1 driver Romain Grosjean.

2013

Due to lack of sponsorship, Guerra did not participate in Monaco and Sweden rallies, but in his country México, he started with Citroën Racing, a privateer team in the WRC in 2013, with his co-driver Borja Rozada.

On his very first race in the WRC, as a rookie in the category, Guerra entered in the top-ten of the Mexican rally, thus he earned his first four points for the championship. ending at 8th overall position behind the winner Sébastien Ogier for 12:49.8 minutes.

2019

In the twenty-ninth edition of the Race of Champions, held at Foro Sol in Mexico City, Guerra defeated French driver Loïc Duval, winner of 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2013 WEC, in the final. On his way to the final match against Duval, Guerra Jr. defeated drivers like Sebastian Vettel, Pierre Gasly, Daniel Suárez, Esteban Gutiérrez, among others.

Complete World Rally Championship results

WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 2006 Benito Guerra Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MON SWE MEX26 ESP FRA ARG ITA GRE GER FIN JPN CYP TUR AUS NZL GBR NC 0 2007 Benito Guerra Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MON SWE NOR MEXRet POR ARGRet ITA GRE FIN GER NZL ESP NC 0 2008 Benito Guerra Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MON SWE MEX14 ARG JOR ITA GRE TUR FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN GBR NC 0 2009 RMC Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII IRE NOR CYP POR ITA GRE POL FIN AUS ESP30 GBR NC 0 2010 Benito Guerra Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX SWE MEX15 JOR TUR NZL POR BUL FIN GER JPN FRA ESP GBR NC 0 2011 Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X SWE MEX11 POR18 JOR ITA ARG15 GRE FINRet GER FRA ESP24 GBRRet 26th 2 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX AUS9 2012 Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X MON SWE MEX11 POR ARG11 GRE19 NZL FIN GER16 GBR FRA ITA24 ESP18 NC 0 2013 Benito Guerra Jr. Citroën DS3 WRC MON SWE MEX8 POR ARG GRE ITA FIN GER AUS FRA24th4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X ESP14 GBR 2014 M-Sport World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEX6 POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA 17th 8 BAS Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X ESP18 GBR 2015 Benito Guerra Jr. Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEX12 ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR NC 0 2016 Benito Guerra Jr. Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEX13 ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER CHNC FRA ESP GBR AUS NC 0 2017 Motorsport Italia Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX12 FRA ARG12 POR32 ITA POL17 FIN GER18 ESP12 GBRWD AUS NC 0 2018 Motorsport Italia Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEXDNS FRA ARG POR15 ITA20 FIN18 GER19 TUR GBR ESPWD AUS NC 0 2019 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX6 FRA ARG12 CHL16 POR14 ITA FIN GER TUR 16th 8 Škoda Fabia R5 Evo GBR20 ESPRet AUS 2020 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX20 EST TUR ITA MNZ NC 0 2022 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo MON SWE CRO POR ITA KEN EST FIN BEL GRE NZL ESP JPN NC 0

PWRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 PWRC Points 2010 Benito Guerra Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX SWE MEX5 JOR NZL FIN GER JPN FRA GBR 18th 12 2011 Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X SWE POR4 ARG6 FINRet ESP3 GBRRet 6th 47 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX AUS4 2012 Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X MON MEX1 ARG1 GRE4 NZL GER2 ITA6 ESP1 1st 109

WRC-2 results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WRC-2 Points 2014 BAS Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X MON SWE MEX POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA ESP4 GBR 28th 12 2017 Motorsport Italia Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX3 FRA ARG3 POR11 ITA POL4 FIN GER9 ESP3 GBRWD AUS 6th 59 2018 Motorsport Italia Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEXDNS FRA ARG POR7 ITA6 FIN6 GER9 TUR GBR ESPWD AUS 19th 24 2019 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX1 FRA ARG2 CHL2 POR6 ITA FIN GER TUR 3rd 75 Škoda Fabia R5 Evo GBR7 ESPRet AUS 2022 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo MON SWE CRO POR ITA KEN EST FIN BEL GRE NZL ESP JPN NC 0

WRC-3 results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Points 2020 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX5 EST TUR ITA MNZ 19th 10