The next SS, Parque Tematico Super Special (6,04 km), will start at 17:29 p.m.

Argentina-SS4: Evans still strong, the Citroën clan left behind

Third special this Friday in Argentina and third scratch time for Elfyn Evans (Ford). The Briton achieved a best time of 13'44″8 and was ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) by 2″8. Ott Tänak places his Team M-Sport Ford Fiesta in third position at 5″6.

In the general classification, Evans consolidates his leadership position, now 23″6 ahead of Latvala. The Finn took advantage of Kris Meeke (Citroën) going off the road, arriving at the stop point of the ES more than 6'30" late and with a fairly damaged C3.

Mads Ostberg (Ford) is now third overall at 32″3. Ott Tänak (Ford) moves from 7th to 4th place and precedes Sébastien Ogier (Ford) who remains in the top 5 at 35″7 from leader Evans.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), who has been riding with a broken shock absorber on his i20 since SS3, lost another 22″9 on Evans, and ranks sixth overall at 48″.

Lorenzo Bertelli (Ford) follows in seventh position ahead of Pontus Tidemand (Skoda), leader in WRC-2, Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) and Juho Hänninen (Toyota), whose Yaris remains slowed down by engine power problems.

After Hubert Ptaszek (Skoda) stopped in the special, Pontus Tidemand (Skoda) saw his position strengthened at the front in WRC-2. The Swede set the best time in the category in this SS4 in 14'41″0 and is now ahead of Gustavo Saba Rodriguez (Skoda), now second at 1'40″4. Benito Guerra (Skoda), previously third, also stopped his R5 in the SS, allowing Pedro Heller (Ford) to move up to third.

Mads Ostberg (Ford) is on the pace of the leaders, with the fourth fastest time of the SS, 8″2 behind Evans. The Norwegian moved up to third place overall, 32″2 behind Evans.  

Difficult day also for Juho Hänninen, still slowed down by low power on the engine of his Toyota Yaris. The Finn lost 1'15" to Evans on this special.

Dani Sordo (Hyundai) is provisionally fifth in the ES in 13'53″9, 9″1 behind Elfyn Evans.

Meanwhile, Elfyn Evans (Ford) continued his almost perfect rally by setting the provisional best time in 13'44″8, 2″8 ahead of Latvala. “Things are working quite well. We attacked on the previous stage, but I wasn't entirely comfortable here, so I held on. There is little margin for error, so we wanted to drive cautiously. »

Craig Breen lost more than 5′ after moving with a C3 stuck in fifth gear after a big compression.

Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) loses 9″6 on the Latvala reference time. “Kris went off the road, and we passed Craig, who was pushing his car into the middle of the road. »

Kris Meeke went off the track, who was able to restart, but it looks like a special disaster for the French clan.

#WRC #RallyArgentina@krismeeke went off in SS4 but he's moving again…

— Citroën Racing (@CitroenRacing) April 28, 2017

It was finally Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) who arrived at the stop point for the special. Craig Breen (Citroën) and Kris Meeke (Citroën) are experiencing problems in this sector. Citroën Racing confirmed Meeke's stop, while Breen seems to have lost 5′.

It was at kilometer 12,7 km that the Briton's C3 stopped.

Ott Tänak (Ford) only concedes 2″8 on Latvala’s provisional best time. “Last year I crashed the car here, so I was a little more careful. It's not feeling great yet, but we've come this far. »

It's an annoyed Thierry Neuville who finishes SS4. The Hyundai driver loses 20″1 on Latvala’s best time. The Belgian is operating with a broken shock absorber since the previous special.

Latvala (Toyota) is ahead of Ogier by 8″8 at the end of this SS4. “We lost a section of the front bumper in a water section earlier and I can feel it in the high speed sections. »

“It’s always a difficult SS for me. There is more gravel on the road. I expect to waste time. » comments Ogier.

Sébastien Ogier concludes this fourth timed sector in 13'56″4.