Rally Argentina Day Three
Rally Argentina Day Three
2012 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
RALLY ARGENTINA
(26 - 29 APRIL 2012
29.04.2012
The Citroën Total World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena today claimed their 70th world rally victory, winning Rally Argentina for the seventh consecutive year. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finished hot on their heels in second, just 15.2 seconds adrift after more than 500 kilometres of competitive driving. In a last minute drama on the final stage, Mads Østberg and Jonas Andersson clinched third position, following the retirement of Ford’s Dani Sordo.
In the FIA World Rally Championship, Sébastien Loeb extends his advantage but Petter Solberg retains second, despite finishing sixth. Third is held by Hirvonen with Østberg just two points further adrift in fourth. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Citroën’s one-two finish gives it a 45 point advantage over Ford, which has however reached a milestone by finishing 150 consecutive World Championship rallies in the points.
Today’s route was another full day of competition for the crews and covered six stages and 132.19 competitive kilometres. It also included the longest stage of the season to date, the 65.74 kilometre Matadero to Ambul section as the opening test this morning. The event then concluded with a short Power Stage, in which Solberg, Hirvonen and Nasser Al-Attiyah picked up an additional three, two and one point respectively for being fastest through this single stage.
Both Citroëns at the head of the field were in a position to manage the pace, such had been their advantage over Sordo since Saturday lunchtime. Both completed the day without problems. Sordo was on course for a fine third position in his one-off drive for Ford until he was forced on to the side-lines in the final stage with an alternator problem. Mads Østberg had little to gain by pushing to the limit and the Norwegian was elevated to third following Sordo’s retirement. Martin Prokop claimed his best world rally result with fourth and Thierry Neuville finished fifth. Petter Solberg managed to overhaul Sébastien Ogier for sixth position, Ogier in the sole remaining Skoda Fabia S2000 after his team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen was forced into retirement with broken suspension after a massive battle between the two. Evgeny Novikov, Al-Attiyah and Ott Tänak rounded off the top 10.
The FIA World Rally Championship crews now return to Europe for the Acropolis Rally of Greece (24-27 May).
Philips Rally Argentina – Final Results (subject to final scrutineering)
1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena 2. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen 3. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson 4. Martin Prokop/Zdenek Hruza 5. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul 6. Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson 7. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia 8. Evgeny Novikov/Denis Giraudet 9. Nasser Al-Attiyah/G Bernacchini 10. Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk |
Citroën DS3 WRC Citroën DS3 WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Citroën DS3 WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC Skoda Fabia S2000 Ford Fiesta RS WRC Citroën DS3 WRC Ford Fiesta RS WRC |
5 hr 34 min 38.8sec 5 hr 34 min 54.0sec 5 hr 37 min 49.2sec 5 hr 44 min 24.1sec 5 hr 45 min 56.4sec 5 hr 46 min 41.0sec 5 hr 47 min 04.1sec 5 hr 55 min 49.0sec 6 hr 03 min 01.4sec 6 hr 11 min 58.3sec |
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 5 of 13 rounds)
Sébastien Loeb (FRA) Petter Solberg (NOR) Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) Mads Østberg (NOR) Evgeny Novikov (RUS) Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) Martin Prokop (CZE) Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) Dani Sordo (ESP) Ott Tänak (EST) Sébastien Ogier (FRA) Thierry Neuville (BEL) Dennis Kuipers (NLD) François Delecour (FRA) Armindo Araújo (PRT) Henning Solberg (NOR) Pierre Campana (FRA) Patrik Sandell (SWE) Jari Ketomaa (FIN) Ken Block (USA) Peter Van Merksteijn (NLD) Ricardo Triviño (MEX) Eyvind Brynildsen (NOR) |
91 points 73 points 70 points 68 points 43 points 28 points 26 points 23 points 21 points 16 points 16 points 14 points 8 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 6 points 4 points 2 points 2 points 1 point 1 point 1 point |
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 5 of 13 rounds)
Citroën Total World Rally Team Ford World Rally Team M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Qatar World Rally Team Citroën Junior World Rally Team Adapta World Rally Team MINI WRC Team Brazil World Rally Team |
151 points 106 points 81 points 37 points 30 points 27 points 26 points 10 points |