WRC / Argentina: Loeb wins, Sordo gives up

Le Rally from Argentina, with an exceptional duration of 503km timed, offered a last minute twist while the positions had been frozen since the first stage following the abandonment of Petter Solberg. Dani Sordo was on the verge of giving Ford the final step of the podium before retiring in the Power Stage with what appeared to be a broken alternator belt. Jari-Matti Latvala's replacement leaves third place to Mads Ostberg (Ford) who had won his first victory in WRC on the green carpet at the Rally of Portugal. Citroën, for its part, signs an almost perfect performance in Argentina with a double Sébastien Loeb / Mikko Hirvonen and a 70th victory for the Alsatian, his seventh in a row in this event.

Martin Prokop (Ford) signs his best result in the discipline by taking fourth place ahead Thierry Neuville (Citroën) who still regrets his abandonment in the first stage. “We passed all the stages except one. The atmosphere is in any case fantastic here », commented the Belgian upon arrival.

Petter Solberg managed to climb to sixth position after his long comeback during the last two stages. The 2003 world champion signed most of the scratches once the instructions were given at Citroën. The Ford driver will console himself with victory in the Power Stage ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and Nasser Al-Attiyah (Citroën). Sébastien Ogier delivered a superb battle with his teammate Andreas Mikkelsen until the IRC champion broke a suspension in the last stage. The Frenchman finished seventh ahead of Evgeny Novikov (Ford), Nasser Al-Attiyah and Ott Tänak.

Discover the analysis of the Rally Argentina carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad and from Thursday on newsstands.