Rally Argentina Day One

Rally Argentina Day One

2012 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
RALLY ARGENTINA
(26 - 29 APRIL 2012)

27.04.2012

At the end of an eventful opening day of competition in Rally Argentina – round five of the FIA World Rally Championship – reigning World Champion Sébastien Loeb heads the leaderboard. Team-mate Mikko Hirvonen is a mere one-tenth of a second adrift with Spaniard Dani Sordo now flying the flag for Ford in third.

This year, Rally Argentina’s route is the longest experienced in the World Rally Championship in nearly 10 years and the combined stage distance from Thursday’s super special stage and today’s first full day totalled 204 kilometres. Today, crews were faced with two loops of two stages of 37.51 and 51.88 kilometres, before rounding the day off with a 19.18 kilometre stage run in darkness.

Following last night’s super special stage in Carlos Paz – won by Petter Solberg – the action kicked off early this morning and provided drama from the outset. Loeb and Hirvonen, who started the day in eighth and 11th positions respectively, have largely escaped problems, although the Frenchman lost time this morning with three uncharacteristic spins. Sordo, replacing the injured Jari-Matti Latvala, has eased into the pace after just one day of testing in the Fiesta. He is third and looks set to be Ford’s highest finisher after Solberg broke the steering arms in the sister car and was forced on to the side-lines while leading the event. While able to return to the competition tomorrow, the Norwegian has an additional 15 minutes’ penalty for missing three stages. Mads Østberg is fourth, but an engine misfire has hampered his charge.

Nasser Al-Attiyah is fifth, but the Qatari has had his fair share of problems; a spin in the first stage and a problem with the front tyres in the second. He has also been suffering with neck pains. He is however closely matched with a handful of chasing drivers, including Martin Prokop, and Andreas Mikkelsen in the Skoda Fabia S2000. His team-mate Sébastien Ogier is just one position behind in eighth, having lost time earlier in the day with a puncture. Armindo Araújo is ninth and Thierry Neuville remains in the top 10, despite rolling earlier in the day. The Frenchman retired from the day, picking up penalties along the way. Other casualties from the day include Evgeny Novikov, who suffered a puncture early this morning and then took a wheel off the car in the next stage, and team-mate Ott Tänak who spun and got stuck off the road.

Philips Rally Argentina – Results after Day 1