Benito Guerra Jr.
Guerra Jr. with Javier Lozano (left), in 2005
Personal information
NationalityMexico Mexican
Born (1985-03-25) 25 March 1985 (age 39)
World Rally Championship record
Active years2006 – 2020, 2022
Co-driverSpain Daniel Cué
Spain Borja Rozada
TeamsRalliart, Motorsport Italia
Rallies44
Championships0
Rally wins0
Podiums0
Stage wins0
Total points22
First rally2006 Rally México
Last rally2022 Rally de Portugal

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 he won the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) and became a World Champion.[1]

Personal life

His father is Benito Guerra Sr., a vintage racing driver like La Carrera Panamericana[2] 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 Jr. made his World Rally Championship debut on his home event Rally Mexico in 2006, finishing the event in 26th.[3] 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

He 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 Jr. finished sixth overall, scoring 47 WRC points.[4]

2012

See also: 2012 World Rally Championship

Benito 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).[5] So, Guerra Jr. 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

As of the 2012, PWRC champion Benito Guerra Jr. is 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.[6][7]

Guerra Jr. said: “This is a great end-of-season challenge and it’s fantastic for my career to be part of ROC 2012. I’m very excited to compete with all of these great drivers and join Team Americas with Ryan Hunter-Reay. See you all in Bangkok!” [8]

In the Nations Cup race Guerra beats Jorge Lorenzo and the ROC Champion of Champions of 2011, Sébastien Ogier but is defeated by Andy Priaulx, due to a penalty. Therefore, the Team Americas is eliminated in the first round because Hunter-Reay is defeated in two of his three rounds.[9][10]

For the Champion of Champions event Guerra Jr. bears little fortune and is eliminated in first round. At the end the overall winner of the ROC 2012 is the F1 driver Romain Grosjean.[11][12]

2013

See also: 2013 World Rally Championship

Due to lack of sponsorship Guerra Jr. 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 gets a great result entering in the top-ten of the Mexican rally, thus he gets his first four points for the championship ending at 8th overall position behind the winner Sébastien Ogier for 12:49.8 minutes.[13][14][15]

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.[16]

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 MEX
26 		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 MEX
Ret 		POR ARG
Ret 		ITA GRE FIN GER NZL ESP NC 0
2008 Benito Guerra Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MON SWE MEX
14 		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 ESP
30 		GBR NC 0
2010 Benito Guerra Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX SWE MEX
15 		JOR TUR NZL POR BUL FIN GER JPN FRA ESP GBR NC 0
2011 Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X SWE MEX
11 		POR
18 		JOR ITA ARG
15 		GRE FIN
Ret 		GER FRA ESP
24 		GBR
Ret 		26th 2
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX AUS
9
2012 Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X MON SWE MEX
11 		POR ARG
11 		GRE
19 		NZL FIN GER
16 		GBR FRA ITA
24 		ESP
18 		NC 0
2013 Benito Guerra Jr. Citroën DS3 WRC MON SWE
 MEX
8 		POR ARG GRE ITA FIN GER AUS FRA 24th 4
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X ESP
14 		GBR
2014 M-Sport World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEX
6 		POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA 17th 8
BAS Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X ESP
18 		GBR
2015 Benito Guerra Jr. Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEX
12 		ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR NC 0
2016 Benito Guerra Jr. Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEX
13 		ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER CHN
C 		FRA ESP GBR AUS NC 0
2017 Motorsport Italia Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX
12 		FRA ARG
12 		POR
32 		ITA POL
17 		FIN GER
18 		ESP
12 		GBR
WD 		AUS NC 0
2018 Motorsport Italia Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX
DNS 		FRA ARG POR
15 		ITA
20 		FIN
18 		GER
19 		TUR GBR ESP
WD 		AUS NC 0
2019 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX
6 		FRA ARG
12 		CHL
16 		POR
14 		ITA FIN GER TUR 16th 8
Škoda Fabia R5 Evo GBR
20 		ESP
Ret 		AUS
C
2020 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX
20 		EST TUR ITA MNZ NC 0
2022 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo MON SWE CRO
23 		POR
Ret 		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 MEX
5 		JOR NZL FIN GER JPN FRA GBR 18th 12
2011 Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X SWE POR
4 		ARG
6 		FIN
Ret 		ESP
3 		GBR
Ret 		6th 47
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX AUS
4
2012 Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X MON MEX
1 		ARG
1 		GRE
4 		NZL GER
2 		ITA
6 		ESP
1 		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 ESP
4 		GBR 28th 12
2017 Motorsport Italia Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX
3 		FRA ARG
3 		POR
11 		ITA POL
4 		FIN GER
9 		ESP
3 		GBR
WD 		AUS 6th 59
2018 Motorsport Italia Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX
DNS 		FRA ARG POR
7 		ITA
6 		FIN
6 		GER
9 		TUR GBR ESP
WD 		AUS 19th 24
2019 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX
1 		FRA ARG
2 		CHL
2 		POR
6 		ITA FIN GER TUR 3rd 75
Škoda Fabia R5 Evo GBR
7 		ESP
Ret 		AUS
C
2022 Benito Guerra Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo MON SWE CRO
13 		POR
Ret 		ITA KEN EST FIN BEL GRE NZL ESP JPN NC 0

WRC-3 results

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

References

  1. ^ Beer, Matt (November 11, 2012). "Sunday PWRC wrap: Guerra crowned". WRC.com. WRC.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  2. ^ "Resultados oficiales/Official results" (PDF). LaCarreraPanamericana.com.mx. Retrieved January 12, 2013.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Driver profile – Beníto Guerra jr". eWRC-results.com. eWRC.cz. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  4. ^ "2011 FIA WRC-3 Standings". WRC.com. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  5. ^ "World Rally Championship - Results". Archived from the original on 2012-11-11. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  6. ^ "Benito Guerra es convocado al Race of Champions - Aguascalientes". www.periodico.am. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Benito Guerra". Archived from the original on 2013-01-13. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  8. ^ "Race of Champions - News Story - Guerra to partner Hunter-Reay on 'Team Americas'". Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  9. ^ "Race of Champions - News Story - Team Germany win sixth ROC Nations Cup". Archived from the original on 2012-12-17. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  10. ^ "Race of Champions: Vettel, Schumacher win Nations' Cup for Germany". 15 December 2012.
  11. ^ "Race of Champions - News Story - Grosjean crowned 2012 Champion of Champions". Archived from the original on 2012-12-19. Retrieved 2012-12-16.
  12. ^ "Romain Grosjean wins 2012 Race of Champions". 16 December 2012.
  13. ^ "World Rally Championship - Results". Archived from the original on 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  14. ^ "World Rally Championship - Results - Rally Guanajuato Mexico". Archived from the original on 2013-03-10. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  15. ^ "Rally Mexico: Sebastien Ogier secures commanding win". 10 March 2013.
  16. ^ "This is Roc".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benito Guerra Jr..
Sporting positions Preceded byHayden Paddon Production World Rally Championshipchampion 2012 Succeeded bySébastien Chardonnet(WRC-3) Preceded byDavid Coulthard Race of ChampionsChampion of Champions 2019 Succeeded bySébastien Loeb(2022)
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