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WRC Argentina

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Ostberg has now popped back onto the system under Rally2 in case he can restart tomorrow, which is probably quite likely if it's just suspension damage from a rock. He's classified seventh right now but will another stage worth of penalties to come he'll fall out of the top 10 overnight.
Stopwatch
Tanak continues to storm along - 2s quicker than Ogier at the first split, 10s up on Latvala in the middle of the stage.

Tanak began this one 8.4s behind Neuville in their fight for second, Neuville is now onto the stage.
David Evans
Confirmation that Evans has lost the diffuser from his DMACK Ford. But the team is optimistic that it won't be too costly on this stage as there's only one fast section in the middle. The previous stage was a lot quicker and the car would've been moving around a lot more with the loss of rear downforce.
Bertelli is continuing at a competitive pace now after whatever problem caused him to stop for just under four minutes. He's lost a place - most likely seventh when it all shakes out - to Hanninen but is 1m16.8s clear of Sordo overall at the stage finish.
Stopwatch
Meanwhile Tanak, fastest on SS13, equal fastest on SS14, is the pacesetter so far at split one of SS15.
Quite a long gap now as Bertelli, who was next on the road, has lost several minutes, and Paddon, who should've been after him, is running out of sequence after whatever the problem was that made him late into the last stage.
Hanninen's not-entirely-healthy Toyota reaches the finish of the day's final stage 44.4s off the pace set by Sordo. That brings the gap between them in a likely overnight eighth and ninth down to... 3m52.5s. Yeah, that's probably where Sordo's charge is going to end.
Bertelli looks like he might be running again after a delay of just under four minutes.
Hanninen's latest technical gremlin didn't look like it was going to cost him any positions as he had a four-minute cushion back to Tidemand (and a healthy WRC2 car would find it hard to catch a slightly sickly WRC) and Sordo anyway. The worry was how far he was going to drop away from Bertelli ahead. With Bertelli now in trouble, that's irrelevant.

Sad for Bertelli when he was on for a career-best seventh, though.
Ostberg tweets the reason for his departure from fourth place on the last stage:
Crash
But whatever is wrong with Hanninen's Toyota might matter less now as the tracking system shows Bertelli - running ahead of him in seventh overall - has stopped on the stage.
And to complete the storylines we've been following, Sordo is now back in the points following Ostberg's sad exit, and he just has a 32.6s gap to close to the WRC2 Skoda of Tidemand to get up to ninth. That should be doable on the final stage.
Crash
Citroen says Meeke's second retirement of the weekend is due to rolling early on the long stage. Both he and Paul Nagle are unhurt.
Crash
Paddon has been given a one-minute penalty for arriving late to this stage. That makes no difference to his very lonely sixth place, he's 3m10.1s adrift of Latvala ahead now and 3m26.8s clear of Bertelli behind.
Crash
Reports that rally leader Evans has become the latest Ford to lose its diffuser. That happened to Ostberg earlier and it wasn't as costly as you might expect, particularly on the slower stage that's coming up next.
Information
SS14 RESULTS

Leading stage times:

1= Neuville/Tanak 19m45.5s
3 Paddon +2.0s
4 Ogier +2.7s
5 Latvala +12.3s
6 Evans +15.1s

Overall leaderboard:

1 Evans
2 Neuville +30.4s
3 Tanak +38.8s
4 Ogier +57.2s
5 Latvala +1m25.1s
6 Paddon +4m35.2s
7 Bertelli +8m02.0s
8 Hanninen 8m43.4s
9 Tidemand +12m47.7s
10 Sordo +13m20.3s
Crash
Looks like Meeke has also stopped on the stage.
Information
Straight onto the next stage already for first-on-the-road Sordo, here's what he's facing on today's finale:

SS15 Boca del Arroyo – Bajo del Pungo (12.75 miles)

A stage similar in nature to the other two in the loop, but the big thing to watch out for in here is the concrete gutters which have been installed to stop the road being washed away in the harsh winters they get in the foothills of the Andes. In one section of around a mile and a half, there are nine of these concrete hazards – well worth looking out for.

Otherwise, there's a good mix of fast and technical in here, with plenty of loose rocks at the side of the road.
Evans completes the stage 15.1s slower than joint pacesetters Neuville and Tanak. That's not a comfortable amount to lose at all.

It brings the DMACK driver's overall lead right down to 30.4s ahead of Neuville! That's half what it was this morning. Tanak is 8.4s further back.

Can't tell yet if Evans has an issue as there's no communication at the stage end.
Ostberg remains stopped. That's going to elevate Ogier and Latvala to fourth and fifth, and potentially put Bertelli into a career-best seventh.
Big blow to the Norwegian privateer - he'd been as high as second on only his second WRC rally of the year and was still in podium contention even after a few blips today.
Crash
Trouble for Ostberg - he's reported to be stopped on the stage with damage to the rear!
Evans's time at the final split is 11s off Tanak.
Stopwatch
This could be a joint stage win on the rally's longest stage - Neuville exactly matches Tanak's 19m45.5s! The second-to-third gap stays at 8.4s.
Is Evans taking it too easy? He's 7.6s off Neuville and Tanak at the middle split.
Ostberg is 5.7s down on Ogier at the final split, it'll be pretty close for fourth at the end of this one given they were only 7.9s apart going in.
Ogier finishes the stage 2.7s slower than Tanak. That adds 9.6s to his advantage over sixth-placed Latvala, but means the gap between the M-Sport Fords is up to 18.4s. Ostberg will slot in somewhere there too.
Evans is past split two, 5s slower than Neuville and Tanak. A taking-it-carefully sort of time?
Stopwatch
Tanak has the edge on Neuville again into the final miles too, 2.5s faster now. Neuville's lead over Tanak in their battle for second was 8.4s going onto this one.
Ogier just hasn't been on Tanak's pace today and he's drifting away on this stage too, the gap between the M-Sport Fords 3.5s at the final split. Ogier's on course to get closer to and potentially pass fourth-placed Ostberg but his team-mate is running away in third.
But Ostberg is 6s off Neuville and the M-Sport Fords at split two. After his over-cautious SS13, Ostberg is down to fourth overall, 7.8s behind Tanak in front and 7.9s ahead of Ogier behind.
Neuville's second place is looking safer from Tanak's advances - their times are absolutely equal at split three.
Stopwatch
Tanak completes the stage fastest so far by 12.3s over Latvala - which spreads the gap between them out to a chunky 46.3s between what is probably third (maybe second) and sixth.
Evans passes split one, 1.9s off pursuer Neuville and 3s behind stage pacesetter Tanak there.
Stopwatch
Latvala reaches the finish with the fastest time so far, 14.4s up on Sordo.

He didn't transmit any splits back, but by sussing his finish time relative to Sordo and other drivers' split times relative to Sordo, we'd say Latvala is going to fall further away from the podium fight here as he's probably not on Tanak and Ogier's pace.
Stopwatch
But Neuville's pace on the next section is better, he's 0.3s faster than Tanak there.
After his stage win last time, Tanak has 8.4s to gain to grab second from Neuville. He's 1.1s up as early as split one.
Stopwatch
Only getting sporadic splits, but from the information that is coming in, it's the M-Sport Fords flying again, a touch quicker than the Hyundais and Ostberg.

By: Matt Beer

Published: