It has been a dramatic start to round five of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia with Petter Solberg leading for Ford and Sebastien Loeb down in fourth overall after spinning his factory Citroen on three separate occasions.
With overnight rain leaving the stages damp and muddy in places, conditions have been far from ideal for the competing crews on Philips Rally Argentina.
Loeb was fastest on Friday’s first test to hit back from the time loss suffered on Thursday night’s superspecial stage, despite a spin. However, two further spins on the 51.88-kilometre Speedagro Ascochinga/Agua de Oro stage means he now trails Solberg by 34.8s at the midday service in Villa Carlos Paz.
Solberg, whose advantage over second-placed Mikko Hirvonen - in another Citroen - stands at 20.1s, said: “Twenty seconds is not a lot I tell you. In the last stage I hit a bank and bent the rear link. I thought I had a puncture and didn’t take any risks.”
Loeb said a bout of oversteer was to blame for his woes as he bids to make it seven wins in a row in South America. “I have a lot of oversteer and on the exit of the corner I can’t keep the car on the line,” said the world championship leader.
Behind Hirvonen, Dani Sordo has impressed on his first outing for the factory Ford team in place of the injured Jari-Matti Latvala. The Spaniard is a strong third, 24.6s down on team-mate Solberg.
Thierry Neuville is fifth in his Citroen Junior World Rally Team DS3 WRC with Vodafone Rally de Portugal winner Mads Ostberg completing the top six.
Sebastien Ogier is seventh in his Super 2000-specification Skoda Fabia, three-tenths of a second ahead of Volkswagen Motorsport team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen, who is impressing on his Rally Argentina debut.
Armindo Araujo said he is driving “clever” in his efforts to reach the finish with his WRC Team MINI Portugal entry unscathed. He is currently ninth overall on his first visit to Argentina.
Nasser Al-Attiyah completes the top 10 following a troubled run through stage two when a spin and a stall cost him precious time in his Qatar World Rally Team Citroen. Al-Attiyah is suffering neck pains, which he said contributed to his earlier mistake.
Martin Prokop is 11th after losing ground with a rear puncture on stage two. Evgeny Novikov failed to complete stage three after tearing a wheel off his M-Sport Fiesta. Team-mate Ott Tanak made it through the run after losing some 18 minutes stopping to change a damaged steering arm.
Ex-Formula One driver Eliseo Salazar has completed both of Friday’s stages unscathed in his MINI. The Chilean is a fine 17th overall on his first appearance in the WRC. Daniel Oliveira is making up time following his exit on Thursday’s superspecial with damaged suspension. The Brazil World Rally Team star reported a minor handbrake glitch on stage two.
Multiple Peruvian champion Nicolas Fuchs heads the Production Car World Rally Championship standings with Argentine Marcos Ligato six seconds behind. Title leader Michal Kosciuszko, from Poland, is firmly in contention in third with Mexico Benito Guerra fourth.
Rally Argentina is running approximately one hour behind schedule after a fuel truck, supplied locally, broke down heading to the refuel point this morning.
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