WRC – Latvala leader of survivors in Argentina

The second passage of the two special stages of the first stage of the Rally of Argentina has further reduced the number of WRC which increases to six cars this evening (out of the 11 at the start this morning). If the Volkswagens were still untouchable in Santa Catalina? La Pampa (SS4), Andreas Mikkelsen suffered a mechanical problem forcing him to dismount on the following course (SS5) while he was on the pace of Jari-Matti Latvala. The Norwegian was not the only victim since the two drivers Hyundai Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville also stopped due to mechanical problems while the Belgian was in fourth place.

By signing the scratch in the 51,88km of Ascochinga? Agua de Oro with more than 18 seconds ahead of Sébastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala regained control of the Rally Argentina by increasing his lead to more than 17 seconds over his French rival who was struggling with his opening position on this long course. The abandonments which punctuated the peloton directly benefited Kris Meeke who climbed onto the provisional podium while he was almost 50 seconds behind the reigning champion. The Citroën driver is ahead of Elfyn Evans' Ford, which is almost four minutes behind the leader of the race although it is in fourth place...

However, the pilot M-Sport is threatened by his teammate Robert Kubica who completes the top five with only two tenths behind. Martin Prokop completes the group of survivors ahead of Nasser Akl-Attiyah. The Qatari also has a comfortable lead over his pursuers, the WRC2 having not been spared by the roughness of the courses either, since his direct rival, the Ukrainian Yuroy Protasov, is almost three minutes behind the leader. Quentin Gilbert lost a lot of time again after breaking his transmission limiting his Fiesta R5 to two-wheel drive and is only in 13th place.

The second stage of the Rally Argentina will begin at 13:33 p.m. French time. Videos of the event can be viewed on this link.