 Guerra Jr. with Javier Lozano (left), in 2005 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Mexican |
| Born | (1985-03-25)25 March 1985 (age 40) |
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Active years | 2006 –2020,2022 |
| Co-driver |  Daniel CuéBorja Rozada |
| Teams | Ralliart, Motorsport Italia |
| Rallies | 44 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Rally wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Stage wins | 0 |
| Total points | 22 |
| First rally | 2006 Rally México |
| Last rally | 2022 Rally de Portugal |
Benito Iván Guerra Latapí (born 25 March 1985) is a Mexicanrally driver competing forCitroën Racing, a privateer team in theFIAWorld Rally Championship (WRC) in 2013, with his co-driverBorja Rozada.
In 2012 he won theProduction World Rally Championship (PWRC) and became a World Champion.[1]
His father is Benito Guerra Sr., avintageracing driver like LaCarrera Panamericana[2] andNotary public inMexico City, his mother is Mercedes Guerra (née Latapí), aCPA. Benito has a younger sister named Mercedes, a fan ofmotorsport.
Guerra Jr. made hisWorld Rally Championship debut on his home eventRally Mexico in2006, finishing the event in 26th.[3] In 2007 he started bothRally Mexico andRally Argentina, but retired from both with mechanical problems. He finished 14th on the2008 Rally México, winning theGroup 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 the2010 Rally México.
He began 2011 by finishing 11th overall onRally Mexico, and then committed to a PWRC programme. He finished fourth in PWRC inPortugal, fourth inAustralia and third inSpain. At the end of the season Guerra Jr. finished sixth overall, scoring 47 WRC points.[4]
Benito and his co-driver Borja Rozada, won inMéxico,Argentina andEspaña rallies, plus a second place inGermany, thereby the Mexican-Spaniard duo got the PWRC world championship with 109 points, over theArgentinian teamMarcos 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 thenPedro Rodríguez(†) was the only one who had achieved in 1970 and 1971 at theWorld Sportscar Championship withJW-Porsche.
As of the 2012, PWRC champion Benito Guerra Jr. is invited to participate in the25th edition of theRace of Champions, from 14 to 16 December inBangkok along with racing legends likeMichael Schumacher andSebastian Vettel. His teammate of Team Americas is theTexanRyan 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 beatsJorge Lorenzo and the ROC Champion of Champions of2011,Sébastien Ogier but is defeated byAndy 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 theF1 driverRomain Grosjean.[11][12]
Due to lack of sponsorship Guerra Jr. did not participate inMonaco andSweden rallies but in his countryMéxico he started withCitroën 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]
In the twenty-ninth edition of theRace of Champions, held atForo Sol inMexico City, Guerra defeated French driverLoïc Duval, winner of2013 24 Hours of Le Mans and2013 WEC, in the final. On his way to the final match against Duval, Guerra Jr. defeated drivers likeSebastian Vettel,Pierre Gasly,Daniel Suárez,Esteban Gutiérrez, among others.[16]
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Production World Rally Championship champion 2012 | Succeeded by Sébastien Chardonnet (WRC-3) |
| Preceded by | Race of Champions Champion of Champions 2019 | Succeeded by Sébastien Loeb (2022) |