The Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team crew of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena claimed their eighth consecutive Rally Argentina victory today. The nine-time World Champions finished South America’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship 55 seconds ahead of Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. After an intense fight to the finish line, Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila claimed the final podium position.

 

Today’s route took the crews to two of the most iconic stages in the Championship, Mina Clavero and El Condor, both covered twice and with the second pass over El Condor counting as the Power Stage. Here, Latvala, Ogier and Mikko Hirvonen claimed the additional points for being the fastest three drivers over this single stage.

 

In the FIA World Rally Championship, Ogier retains his lead with Loeb moving into second position ahead of team-mate Hirvonen. The Volkswagen Motorsport team also maintains its advantage in the Manufacturers’ Championship, with 14 points in hand to the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team.

 

Loeb - who hasn’t competed in the WRC since Rally Sweden in February and won’t be seen again until Rallye de France in October - played it safe today, such was his advantage over Ogier, his French rival also content to claim second being that semi-retired Loeb is not one of his main Championship rivals. However, behind the two Sébastiens, the battle for third position raged. Novikov started the day ahead but with Latvala taking three consecutive stages victories, he was overhauled in the penultimate stage of the rally. The Finn then went on to win the Power Stage and extended his advantage when Novikov spun in the stage.

 

The sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to Greece for the Acropolis Rally (30 May – 2 June).

 

Rally Argentina – Final Unofficial Classification (subject to scrutineering)

The Rally Argentina leaderboard has turned on its head today as crews hit problems up in the mountains surrounding Córdoba. Sébastien Loeb has moved into the lead – his customary position in Rally Argentina – and Sébastien Ogier has slipped to second. Third position is now held by Evgeny Novikov, the Russian benefitting as those around him fell into the clutches of the rocky Argentinean stages.

  

Today’s route was the longest of the event and covered two identical loops of two long stages before the crews returned to Villa Carlos Paz for the second and final run around the super special stage. Ogier started the day on top form, the Frenchman winning the opening stage. However, his luck turned on the second stage when he understeered onto slippery mud and, with a broken handbrake, was unable to avoid going off the road. He lost the lead to Loeb and in the following stage then picked up a puncture and cruised through the final long stage, cautious of any further problems and no spare wheel. He now overnights 39.8 seconds adrift of Loeb, who also went off the road in the first stage this morning. Third position is now held by Novikov, the Russian climbing from fifth.

  

Jari-Matti Latvala is fourth overnight, the Finn not having the best of days. He made a couple of mistakes in the first stage and dropped time in the following stage, not liking the foggy conditions. This afternoon he was pushing but suffered a puncture after landing too hard in the final long stage. Despite changing the wheel in record time, he is now nearly three minutes adrift of the lead. Thierry Neuville has adopted a cautious and strategic approach to this event and holds a comfortable fifth, while Mikko Hirvonen has dropped from third to sixth. The Finn had a couple of ‘moments’ in the opening stage and was off the road in stage seven. However he then dropped more time in SS8 with a puncture and nearly six minutes in the final mountain stage with an electronic problem that resulted in the engine intermittently cutting out. Andreas Mikkelsen appears ninth in the provisional classification, but the Norwegian was unable to start SS9 after sustaining suspension damage in the previous stage.

  

Rally Argentina – Unofficial Results after Day 2