El Condor passed, Ford stumbled

Renowned for his infallible consistency, Mikko Hirvonen was forced to retire this afternoon during the second day of the Rally Argentina. The Ford driver was defeated by engine overheating. Citroën and Sébastien Loeb have a new opportunity to widen the gap in the two championships.

Published on 26/04/2009 à 01:01

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140°C, an unusual water temperature in the engine of the Ford Focus RS WRC 09 observed on the climb towards Giulio Cesare, first forced Mikko Hirvonen to take his foot off, losing almost a minute. At more than 2 meters above sea level, the Finn tried to cool his engine with water from a stream but without success. The vice World Champion parked for the first time? since Rally from Argentina 2008.

“We do not yet know what is the cause of this problem and whether Mikko will be able to restart tomorrow,” explains Malcolm Wilson, boss of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi team. “It's a big disappointment because Mikko had once again shown that he was capable of standing up to Sébastien Loeb. We will have to put this behind us and continue our journey. »

This withdrawal benefits Citroën. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena will enter the short final day of the rally in the first two positions with a large lead over Jari-Matti Latvala which will allow them to manage the end of the race.

If the ranking did not change, Sébastien Loeb would take a 19 point lead over Dani Sordo and 20 points ahead of Mikko Hirvonen in the drivers' standings. Citroën would already have an advantage of 36 points over Ford.