Today’s route covered just two stages, the famous El Condor – where there were an estimated 65,000 spectators – run twice and closing the event as the Power Stage. This morning the crews were faced with cold and foggy conditions high up in the mountains and this, coupled with the fact the day had the roughest and trickiest stages, made for some of the most challenging competition of the season. Paddon started the day with a lead of 29.8 seconds over Ogier, but in the first stage alone the Frenchman managed to claw back nearly eight seconds, also benefitting when Paddon lost time when the car stalled a couple of times under braking. Ogier went on to win the equally famous Giulio Cesare stage and snatched another 19.8 seconds out of Paddon’s advantage, leaving the battling rivals going into the final stage split by a mere 2.6 seconds. Paddon nevertheless rose to the challenge and drove the stage of his life to claim the Power Stage win, his first-ever victory in the World Rally Championship and Hyundai’s maiden win with the New Generation Hyundai i20 WRC. Behind Ogier, Mikkelsen has driven at a comfortable pace all weekend to avoid problems and was rewarded with his best result on Rally Argentina, despite a spin in the first stage.

Dani Sordo finished fourth and Mads Østberg fifth, the Norwegian losing some time with a small off in the first stage. Thierry Neuville managed to climb one position to sixth after a difficult start to the event and local hero Marcos Ligato finished a fine seventh in his first outing in the DS3 WRC, just 9.7 seconds adrift of the Belgian. Eric Camilli was relieved to get to the finish without problems and Henning Solberg was ninth. After a mammoth accident repair job by the Volkswagen team last night, Jari-Matti Latvala managed to re-start this morning but the Finn bent the steering and dropped yet more time repairing it. Tenth position was claimed by Nicolas Fuchs, the Peruvian also winning the FIA WRC 2 Championship category. Michel Fabre got his DS3 R3T to the finish and won the two-wheel drive WRC 3 series.

The fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders back to Europe for Rallye de Portugal (19-22 May).

Rally Argentina – Final Official Classification

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 4 of 14 rounds)

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 4 of 14 rounds)