Sébastien Loeb remains at the top

Even a passage to more than 2100 meters of altitude during the second day did not shake Sébastien Loeb, winner again today on the roads of the Rally Argentina. The Citroën driver won ahead of his teammate Dani Sordo and the very happy Henning Solberg. Ford is losing big.

Published on 26/04/2009 à 18:02

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If Sébastien's victory Loeb is not surprising, the absence of Mikko Hirvonen at the finish is a real event. Forced to retire due to engine overheating on the second day, the Ford driver interrupted a series of 22 points finishes (record shared with Marcus Grönholm).

This abandonment and the problems of Jari-Matti Latvala at the start of the third day? fuel pressure? cost the Ford team many points. Thanks to a double, Loeb and Sordo now occupy the first two positions in the drivers' standings and Citroën is 39 points ahead of Ford among the manufacturers.

The list of records continues to grow for Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena. This victory is their 52nd in the World Rally Championship, their fifteenth consecutive podium, the fifth consecutive in Argentina and their sixth consecutive since Rally of Great Britain 2008 (record equaled with their series between New Zealand and Argentina in 2005).

Henning Solberg climbed to the third step of the podium, taking advantage of the withdrawal of Mikko Hirvonen and Petter Solberg and the mechanical problems of Jari-Matti Latvala. The Norwegian finished more than four minutes behind the winner.

Federico Villagra also took advantage of the various eliminations to take fourth place in his national event ahead of Matthew Wilson, Jari-Matti Latvala and Nasser Al-Attiyah, winner of the Production category.