WRC – Volkswagen shows caution at Rally Argentina

The first pass of the two special stages of the first stage of the Rally from Argentina did damage in the peloton of WRC since Mads Ostberg and Mikko Hirvonen threw in the towel on the first run (ES2 Santa Catalina? La Pampa) while Dani Sordo lost many minutes following a turbo problem. However, the Volkswagen drivers were the fastest on both courses with a scratch for Sébastien Ogier (his 150th with Volkswagen) and another for Jari-Matti Latvala in the 51,88km from Ascochinga? Agua de Oro, longest special of the event. Thus, the three Polo R WRCs occupy the first places in the ranking. “We are starting Rally Argentina as planned”, says Jost Capito, Volkswagen sporting director. “We wanted to compete in the first stages without making any mistakes and we achieved that. However, these first two stages alerted us. We have to stay fully focused to get victory and it is not easy to find balance on these tough stages. »

Volkswagen could however liven up the Rally Argentina since Jari-Matti Latvala only has three seconds ahead of his rival Sébastien Ogier who leads the way in front of the Finn. “It's good to be in the lead but I only have a slight advantage and there's still a long way to go. The first stage this morning was tougher and more difficult than we thought. That says a lot about the level of reliability of the Polo which completed the course without any problems. We only had a few split times in the stages where we could compare ourselves to our rivals and that allowed me to concentrate on driving. »

Sébastien Ogier can also be satisfied with his performance since he still has every chance of winning despite his opening position which could have been even more handicapping if the conditions had been completely dry. “They were better than expected”, recognizes the reigning champion. “It went very well for us in the first two stages, it was a great performance. The ground was wet because of the morning fog and we then had sections covered in dry conditions. The first stage was particularly demanding on the car. It will clearly be a difficult rally, both for us and for the mechanics. Fortunately, everything went well for us unlike our opponents. »

If Andreas Mikkelsen completes the provisional podium 18 seconds from the lead of the race, Thierry Neuville already follows at more than half a minute. Sébastien Ogier will embark on the second pass of the special stages of the first stage of the Rally Argentina from 19:41 p.m. (French time).