Meeke and Ostberg maintain 1-2 positions for Citroen: WRC Argentina Rally

DS 3 WRC team-mates Kris Meeke and Mads Østberg have maintained their one-two positions for Citroën after another tricky day of competition over the rough and rocky gravel roads of Rally Argentina. Meeke lost some of his advantage this morning but clawed back time this afternoon to sit 38.6 seconds ahead of Østberg with just two stages remaining tomorrow. Jari-Matti Latvala has also held station in third, the Finn’s position safer following the retirement of Dani Sordo in the final stage.

Meeke started the day with more than a minute in hand but a spin in the opening stage meant over 20 seconds was immediately shaved from his advantage. Østberg had initially been pushing hard but survival became the name of the game and simply getting through the stages unscathed became an achievement in itself. This afternoon Meeke regained some of his advantage but suffered a heart-stopping scare in the final stage when the car cut-out in a water splash and he was forced to re-set the engine. Latvala, 25.1 seconds adrift of Østberg, played it safe this morning but in the second stage lost nearly 30 seconds off the road. His position is certainly more comfortable at the end of the day, as the chasing Sordo was forced to pull out of the final stage with an unconfirmed technical problem. With the Rally 2 penalty, the Spaniard drops to eighth.

Elfyn Evans therefore moves into fourth after a largely trouble-free day and Thierry Neuville now heads the challenge for Hyundai. The Belgian has moved two places up the leaderboard today and is 48 seconds ahead of sixth-placed Martin Prokop. Khalid Al Qassimi is seventh and WRC 2 Championship contenders Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Diego Dominguez round off the top ten. Reigning World Champion Sébastien Ogier re-joined under Rally 2 regulations today but suffered power steering problems this afternoon and he remains down in 24th position. Team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen won two stages and is 14th and Hayden Paddon retired following an incident involving spectators.

XION Rally Argentina – Unofficial Results after Section 7

1.   Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle	DS 3 WRC	3hr 14min 51.7sec
2.   Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson	DS 3 WRC	3hr 15min 30.3sec
3.   Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila	Volkswagen Polo R WRC	3hr 15min 55.4sec
4.   Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3hr 17min 16.3sec
5.   Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 WRC	3hr 19min 42.7sec
6.   Martin Prokop/Jan Tomanek	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3hr 20min 30.7sec
7.   Khalid Al Qassimi/Chris Patterson	DS 3 WRC	3hr 25min 26.0sec
8.   Dani Sordo/Marc Marti	Hyundai i20 WRC	3hr 26min 06.6sec
9.   Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari/Marshall Clarke	Ford Fiesta RRC	3hr 29min 06.3sec
10. Diego Dominguez/Edgardo Galindo	Ford Fiesta R5	3hr 32min 01.7sec