WRC – Qatar WRT gains places in Argentina

Evgeny Novikov was comfortably seated in fifth place in the Rally from Argentina more than a minute behind the Polo R WRC by Jari-Matti Latvala who seemed inaccessible. But the Russian was the direct beneficiary of the misfortunes encountered by Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala in SS9 (serious engine failures for the Citroën driver and puncture for the teammate of Sébastien Ogier) and suddenly found himself on the provisional podium. The Qatar WRT driver is aiming for his best result of the season but the final stage will be difficult for him since he is only eight seconds ahead of the Finn from the German team. “I didn’t expect to be third at the end of the day, but I’m definitely happy to be in this place,” recognizes the pilot M-Sport. “The stages were very difficult, especially on the second pass, and there were a lot of stones that we had to avoid. Fortunately, I was able to pass without problems. »

Thierry Neuville is also well placed since he occupies fifth place with more than three minutes ahead of Mikko Hirvonen who lost a lot of time in the stage the day before. With 41 seconds behind Jari-Matti Latvala, the Belgian will continue to play the cautious approach that has been in his favor since the start of this event. “Following Andreas’ retirement (suspension breakage), we no longer have any real reasons to fight. I will therefore remain very careful by making sure I am at the finish of each special stage. There is nothing to be gained by taking big risks. I think our strategy worked well since we went from 7th to 5th place in one afternoon. Obviously, the rally is not over and a lot of things can still happen. I will try to keep the same pace in the last stage. »

Mads Ostberg also distinguished himself by going from 11th to 7th place in one day. The Norwegian, who remains at a very fast pace, will nevertheless have difficulty climbing the hierarchy since he is almost four minutes behind Mikko Hirvonen.

The summary videos of the second stage can be found on this link. The program for the last stage of the Rally Argentina can be found here.