Elfyn Evans shines, Citroën and Hyundai suffer in Argentina

The first three stages of the first real day of racing in Argentina were tough for the peloton. WRC. Several drivers were victims of various mishaps causing them to lose more or less time against the surprise leader Elfyn Evans (Ford).

Profitant également de sa bonne position sur la route, le Britannique du Team M-Sport, dont la Fiesta est chaussée de pneus Dmack à leur avantage sur les pistes sud-américaines, a signé quatre scratchs en quatre ES.

De quoi propulser Evans en tête de la course avec 30″1 d’avance sur Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota), qui se montre le plus proche poursuivant d’Evans, malgré des dommages sur le splitter avant de sa Yaris WRC dans l’ES3.

Consistent from the start, Mads Ostberg (Ford) is in third place, 35″6 ahead Ott Tänak (Ford), fourth at 39″8. Sébastien Ogier (Ford), victim of a collision in SS2, after going straight at a corner and going into a ditch, is only fifth at 41″7.

Hyundai et Citroën perdent gros

The first Hyundai i20 Thierry Neuville climbs to sixth place at 50″2, after a shock absorber problem in this first pass of the day.

The Belgian, however, is doing better than his Hyundai teammates, since Hayden Paddon rolled over in SS2, losing more than 2'40" after suspension and cooling problems, when Dani Sordo, victim of a broken steering link (changed during the special) in SS3, lost more than 11'25".

The Citroën clan was not spared, since the SS4 was fatal to the two C3s of Kris Meeke, went off the road before losing 6'31", and Craig Breen, whose car got stuck in fifth gear after heavy compression.Citroën quickly confirmed the retirement of both drivers, with a broken gearbox for Breen.

The French brand will try to repair the two cars to restart in Rally2.

The top 10 is completed by Lorenzo Bertelli (Ford), Pontus Tidemand (Skoda), leader in WRC-2, Hayden Paddon and Juho Hänninen (Toyota), whose Yaris is largely slowed down by engine power problems.

Rally Argentina ranking