Anther incredible nail biting finish to Round 6 of the WRC in Rally Argentina.

Photo: D.Darrall

Its been a weekend of glory and distraught for most, but after a 1minute time penalty on day 1 for being early into service. The master, the king of rallying wins Rally Argentina by a mear 2.4 seconds on the final ‘Power Stage’! Sebastien Loeb takes the win.

Day 3 started with Sebastien Ogier in the lead, ahead of Loeb by 21.5 sec’s. Following Latvala retiring the day before due to broken suspension, and a devastated Petter Solberg dropping to 4th after Power steering problems. But in the ever unpredictable world of Rallying, Ogier rolls his DS3 at the end of the 48km stage at the beginning of the day. Ogier continued on with the car loosing bits every stage, and did all he could to keep his 7 times Champion team mate behind him.

Photo: World Rally Radio - WRC.com

Once again it all came down to the final ‘Power Stage’. They went into the 4km stage, with Ogier still in the lead but the charging Loeb just 3.3 sec behind, an incredible drive making up that 1 min penalty. With added pressure of Mikko Hirvonen behind in 3rd 2.4 seconds away. The stage run in reverse, Petter Solberg set the fastest time for those 3 extra bonus points, Hirvonen comes through half a second slower. Next was Loeb, not just pushing for the extra points but also for the rally win, knowing that Ogier is struggling with the wrecked DS3 and power steering problems after the roll, Loeb sets the same time as Hirvonen. It all came down to Sebastien Ogier, who was trying his best not to give up. He did a great job to get the car back to the finish, but the damage was done. Ogier went 8th quickest, 11.1 seconds off Solbergs time.

Sebastien Loeb takes the win on the final stage, after everyones problems he drove faultlessly to take the win. Behind, Hirvonen takes second place, although he hasn’t been happy with his performance this weekend and has been off the pace in comparison to the top boys. Sebastien Ogier drops down to finish 3rd, but lucky to finish at all with the morning roll. Petter Solberg finishes 4th and takes the bonus 3 points and win on the ‘Power Stage’. Stobarts Mads Ostberg came home in 5th. Home boy and fans favorite Federico Villagra takes 6th. Other Stobart driver and Brit Matthew Wilson finishes in a disappointing 8th.

Down in the PWRC, the glory once again goes to Hayden Paddon. A few problems with damaged parts of suspension, but stayed out of trouble in general on his first attempt of Rally Argentina. His worked well with what his got, and along with his team and his Symtech run Subaru group N car, he did a repeat of his success back in Rally Portugal and takes the win in the showroom class by a massive 7minutes 50.4 seconds. In second place was Swede Patrik Flodin, and 3rd is Dmitrv Tagirov.

Photo: D.Darrall