The second day of Rally Argentina has provided yet more drama and no fewer than six of the top crews were forced out of the competition. Citroën driver Sébastien Loeb has however stayed out of trouble to retain his advantage and he looks set to snatch the lead of the Championship from Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen. Behind the Frenchman, the two Subaru drivers have been battling for position, with Petter Solberg overhauling team-mate Chris Atkinson for second position.

Today took in two loops of four stages before returning to the Cordoba Stadium for a second run around the popular super special stage. While the rain eased, conditions remained wet and slippery, and merely completing the route has been a tricky challenge. Loeb’s overnight advantage left the Frenchman in a reasonably comfortable position and he won three of the day’s stages and takes an 80 second lead into tomorrow’s three remaining stages. Petter Solberg started the day in third but overhauled Atkinson in the first stage. The battling team-mates have been closely matched through the day but the Norwegian - who won five stages - returned to Carlos Paz this evening with 48.9 seconds in hand. Dani Sordo (Citroën) has moved up the leaderboard into fourth with privateer Citroën driver Conrad Rautenbach climbing to fifth.

Leading retirements of the day include Jari-Matti Latvala, Gigi Galli, Henning Solberg, Matthew Wilson (all Ford) and Suzuki drivers Per-Gunnar Andersson and Toni Gardemeister. Having climbed back up to eighth after his problems yesterday, Latvala then went over the permitted time limit when the car failed to start at the beginning of SS11. Galli retired with burned out electrics, following damage to the exhaust system. After his suspension problem and time loss yesterday, Henning Solberg elected to stop at the mid-day service to preserve the car for April’s Jordan Rally. Wilson and Andersson broke their suspension, while Gardemeister went out with hydraulic problems.

Rally Argentina - Results after Day 2

1. Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 28 min 16.5sec
2. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 3 hr 29 min 36.1sec
3. Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot Subaru Impreza WRC 3 hr 30 min 25.0sec
4. Dani Sordo/Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 31 min 48.8sec
5. Conrad Rautenbach/David Senior Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 46 min 16.6sec
6. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 53 min 01.0sec
7. Andreas Aigner/Klaus Wicha Mitsubishi Lancer Evo (Gp N) 3 hr 53 min 43.7sec
8. Federico Villagra/Jorge Perez Companc Ford Focus RS WRC 3 hr 54 min 09.9sec

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