WRC Argentina
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Paddon comes in fifth fastest - good enough in a car that was upside down an hour ago.
Meeke reports that the stage was pretty clean so road position wouldn't have been much of a factor, and he was happy with his rhythm. Evans, the Ford and the DMACKs are simply going faster.
Stopwatch
At split two, Evans is on course to add another 4.4s to his lead over Meeke!
Stopwatch
Meeke goes quickest for now, just 0.4s up on the improved Tanak, which gives Meeke a 12.1s lead over Latvala for now. But Evans looks like he's about to blitz them all...
Stopwatch
Evans continues to fly - he's fastest of all at split one again, 0.6s better than Sordo was before his problem, and 2.3s quicker than anyone who's actually still running.
Breen is slowest on the stage so far, 11.2s off Tanak's pace. And he therefore falls behind the Ford in the overall standings by some distance.
Crash
Sordo remains stopped on the stage. No indication what the problem is, but that's his bid for the lead over already.
Paddon is onto the stage and sets a competitive first split - looks like that roll didn't do too much damage.
Tanak went onto that stage 1.4s behind eighth-placed Breen, and is now 2.7s behind Neuville - who's likely to be around sixth when it all shakes out.
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"I made a big change and the car feels different," says Tanak. Whatever it was, that was a good change.
Stopwatch
Tanak is fastest on the stage so far, 4.4s better than team-mate Ogier. That will bring him onto the tail of the fight for fourth.
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Neuville reveals he's been grappling with a suspension problem on that one:
"I did the maximum with a broken damper. I can go faster. The handling is fine but in the big compressions I have to slow down."
"I did the maximum with a broken damper. I can go faster. The handling is fine but in the big compressions I have to slow down."
Crash
Sordo - who started the stage third - has stopped on the stage.
Neuville is third fastest of the three cars at the finish so far, 2.9s off Ogier's pace and consequently now behind him by one second overall. They'll either be fifth and sixth or fifth and seventh or sixth and seventh depending on what Ostberg does later.
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"We didn't really hit anything, we went wide in one place but nothing significant," says Latvala as he ponders the damage. "It's quite hard conditions, the road feels rock solid. That makes the compression hard and some places are slippery."
Is the loss of aero parts at the front causing him a problem? "No, not really."
Is the loss of aero parts at the front causing him a problem? "No, not really."
Crash
Potential problem for Latvala, though - the front splitter is missing from his Yaris.
Latvala completes the stage second fastest but having gained a bit on Ogier in the final miles. He's half a second slower across the whole stage so stays 3.3s clear of Ogier in their battle for fourth.
Stopwatch
Tanak is the fastest man of all at split two. He wasn't at all comfortable on SS2 but this looks more promising.
Ogier's not happy with the handling - "the car's very, very unstable". He did lose a bit of aero when he dipped into a ditch on SS2 but he says that's not the only reason.
Stopwatch
First of the lead battlers on the stage is Sordo, and his first split is 2.4s up on Ogier there.
Stopwatch
Ogier is in with a time of 10m25.9s.
Latvala's second split does pop up, he's 1.4s slower than Ogier and that puts him on course to hang on to fourth, very provisionally.
We'll know about the Latvala/Neuville/Ogier section of the battle for what is currently fourth pretty soon as they're the first three on the road. But then there'll be some suspense and mystery for a spell because Ostberg is in the thick of that battle as well but he's way down the running order as his unsatisfying Rally Sweden was the only time he's appeared so far this year so he's on zero points in the standings.
We're not getting splits from Latvala, so don't know how he's comparing to Ogier, but judging by the first split Ogier is on course to get at least one place back on this stage by overcoming Neuville.
Paddon has continued onto this stage after that scrape, time to mount a comeback.
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SS3 Amboy – Santa Monica (12.70 miles)
Very different in nature from the first stage, this one is super-quick and featured the highest average speed of any of last year's stages at 72mph.
The road is generally quite wide, bit even the narrower stretches are quick and the finish comes via a brace of spectacular sixth-gear corners.
Very different in nature from the first stage, this one is super-quick and featured the highest average speed of any of last year's stages at 72mph.
The road is generally quite wide, bit even the narrower stretches are quick and the finish comes via a brace of spectacular sixth-gear corners.
So it's Evans leading from Meeke and Sordo by 6s, then a gap to a gaggle comprising Latvala, Neuville, Ostberg, and SS2 ditch-visitor Ogier - who's first man onto the stage now.
Green flag
That's often nostalgia for now (but not for long, there will be a contrived method of getting a Group B pic in here before long, as ever). SS3, Amboy, has begun.
Sainz pops out from behind an Argentinian tree 13 years ago (LAT)
David Evans
It's not often we talk about recent Citroen domination of a round of the World Rally Championship, but Argentina is definitely one exception. The French firm has won here 10 times in the last 12 times it's been on the calendar.
Sebastien Loeb is responsible for eight of those victories, with Carlos Sainz and Kris Meeke also winning with the chevron badge on the bonnet.
Sainz's 2004 win was the Spaniard's 26th and last after 196 starts in the World Rally Championship.
That success at the wheel of a Xsara WRC prompted a classic line from Marcus Gronholm when the Finn was asked if he was surprised at the speed Sainz had shown.
"Yes," said Gronholm. "Where did he come from? It was like he'd been hiding behind a tree or something."
El Matador stepped out from behind the tree to kick-start Citroen's enviable record in South America. A decade would pass before another manufacturer (Volkswagen, courtesy of Jari-Matti Latvala) topped the podium in 2014.
Sebastien Loeb is responsible for eight of those victories, with Carlos Sainz and Kris Meeke also winning with the chevron badge on the bonnet.
Sainz's 2004 win was the Spaniard's 26th and last after 196 starts in the World Rally Championship.
That success at the wheel of a Xsara WRC prompted a classic line from Marcus Gronholm when the Finn was asked if he was surprised at the speed Sainz had shown.
"Yes," said Gronholm. "Where did he come from? It was like he'd been hiding behind a tree or something."
El Matador stepped out from behind the tree to kick-start Citroen's enviable record in South America. A decade would pass before another manufacturer (Volkswagen, courtesy of Jari-Matti Latvala) topped the podium in 2014.
The next stage was due to begin in just under five minutes but the earlier slight delay is carrying over, so it'll be just under 10 minutes before we get going.
Paddon's roll-delayed time places him 19th at the moment. These are tough, car-punishing roads, and this rally doesn't feature the biggest entry we've ever seen, so just being there at the finish could pay off with some big points. So if Paddon can keep going without having to resort to Rally2, he's not totally out of contention - but a repeat of last year's win here looks not far off impossible.
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SS2 summary:
* Evans flies and goes into the rally lead by 6s over closely-matched Meeke and Sordo
* Ogier is only seventh after a wrong pace note means he visits a ditch
* Paddon rolls and loses over two minutes
* Hanninen is slowed by a lack of power
* Evans flies and goes into the rally lead by 6s over closely-matched Meeke and Sordo
* Ogier is only seventh after a wrong pace note means he visits a ditch
* Paddon rolls and loses over two minutes
* Hanninen is slowed by a lack of power
Information
SS2 RESULTS
Stage times:
1 Evans 12m42.3s
2 Meeke +4.6s
3 Sordo +6.9s
4 Latvala +12.0s
5 Neuville +14.4s
6 Ostberg +15.3s
7 Ogier +17.9s
8 Breen +19.8s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Meeke +6.4s
3 Sordo +6.9s
4 Latvala +13.2s
5 Neuville +15.1s
6 Ostberg +16.8s
7 Ogier +17.0s
8 Breen +23.7s
9 Tanak +25.1s
10 Hanninen +48.8s
Stage times:
1 Evans 12m42.3s
2 Meeke +4.6s
3 Sordo +6.9s
4 Latvala +12.0s
5 Neuville +14.4s
6 Ostberg +15.3s
7 Ogier +17.9s
8 Breen +19.8s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Meeke +6.4s
3 Sordo +6.9s
4 Latvala +13.2s
5 Neuville +15.1s
6 Ostberg +16.8s
7 Ogier +17.0s
8 Breen +23.7s
9 Tanak +25.1s
10 Hanninen +48.8s
Crash
Hanninen's slow time doesn't sound like it was his fault, here's his report:
"I don't know, I don't know. Maybe we lost power. I don't know. We have to go and see if we can do something," he says, with a fair bit of panic in his voice.
"I don't know, I don't know. Maybe we lost power. I don't know. We have to go and see if we can do something," he says, with a fair bit of panic in his voice.
Ostberg slots into sixth place overall.
Poor time for Juho Hanninen, whose return to the WRC with Toyota is not going at all well. He's back in 10th on the leaderboard and already 48s off leader Evans.
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Modest Evans suggests his road position helped, but he was far from the only person getting cleaner conditions and he's the bloke who turned it into a 6s rally lead.
"It was good, but to be fair there was some cleaning, that was evident to see. We had an OK run," he says, un-triumphantly.
"It was good, but to be fair there was some cleaning, that was evident to see. We had an OK run," he says, un-triumphantly.
Crash
Paddon's delay was due to rolling. Not yet clear how much damage that's done, although the fact he reached the stage with a not-totally-disastrous 2m23s time loss is slightly encouraging.
By: Matt Beer
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