WRC Argentina
Live Text
Sort by
Stopwatch
Neuville comes in fastest, 1.9s up on Tanak, even though he's carrying a puncture at the rear of his Hyundai.
Ogier was frustrated, as usual, running first on the road yesterday and was expected to put on a charge this morning. But so far he's actually losing ground to Tanak, who comes in 3.1s faster and closes to within 1.5s of his team-mate for fourth overall.
Ogier explains that wasn't poor pace on his part, he had to slow to avoid a dog in the road (correct choice, Seb) and then half spun in a watersplash where he thought he might've hit an obstacle.
Ogier explains that wasn't poor pace on his part, he had to slow to avoid a dog in the road (correct choice, Seb) and then half spun in a watersplash where he thought he might've hit an obstacle.
The battle for the podium was the highlight of yesterday afternoon, with four cars within 3.5s at one point.
Thierry Neuville managed to make third place his own by the end of the night, easing clear of Sebastien Ogier and Ott Tanak and on the splits it looks like the Hyundai's going to get further ahead on this one.
Thierry Neuville managed to make third place his own by the end of the night, easing clear of Sebastien Ogier and Ott Tanak and on the splits it looks like the Hyundai's going to get further ahead on this one.
Stopwatch
Fastest through now is Paddon, last year's Argentina winner, who rolled early yesterday and has made it back up to seventh, but needs retirements ahead to achieve a lot more.
And Hanninen has already closed to within 6.6s of Bertelli's eighth place on that stage.
Sordo was a touch quicker than Juho Hanninen, who is ninth overall right now and inching towards Lorenzo Bertelli.
It was a pretty underwhelming Friday for Hanninen - his Toyota lost power substantially early on and he had to limp through the morning. Once fixed, he didn't exactly make huge strides forward.
He starts the day with a 34s gap to close to get past Bertelli for eighth.
It was a pretty underwhelming Friday for Hanninen - his Toyota lost power substantially early on and he had to limp through the morning. Once fixed, he didn't exactly make huge strides forward.
He starts the day with a 34s gap to close to get past Bertelli for eighth.
Sordo is first car through. He was in contention for the lead yesterday morning before clouting a rock and breaking a steering arm, which he replaced in a nifty 11-minute on-stage repair.
He got back up to 13th by the end of last night and should now quickly clear a couple of local drivers in R5 cars to reach 11th, but then it'll take a while to catch WRC2 leader Pontus Tidemand and get into the overall points.
He got back up to 13th by the end of last night and should now quickly clear a couple of local drivers in R5 cars to reach 11th, but then it'll take a while to catch WRC2 leader Pontus Tidemand and get into the overall points.
Crash
You'll notice that list is missing Craig Breen. Citroen expected to get both Breen and Kris Meeke back running today, but even though Breen just needed a new gearbox and Meeke pretty much demolished his car yesterday, Breen hasn't made it to the first stage. More info to follow.
Running order today is the delayed-but-running World Rally Cars first, then the frontrunners, then the Rally2 drivers, so they'll come through as follows: Sordo - Hanninen - Bertelli - Paddon - Latvala - Tanak - Ogier - Neuville - Ostberg - Evans - Meeke
Information
Here's what we're starting the day with:
SS10 Tanti – Villa Bustos (12.92 miles)
Apart from the first gravel stage of the event on Friday, this stage features the only change from last year, running in reverse from 2016.
Starting off with an asphalt road in Tanti, the road soon switches to sandy gravel and twists its way up a hill and through numerous water crossings.
This first section is quite rough, but it gets smoother and wider through the second half and down towards the finish.
SS10 Tanti – Villa Bustos (12.92 miles)
Apart from the first gravel stage of the event on Friday, this stage features the only change from last year, running in reverse from 2016.
Starting off with an asphalt road in Tanti, the road soon switches to sandy gravel and twists its way up a hill and through numerous water crossings.
This first section is quite rough, but it gets smoother and wider through the second half and down towards the finish.
Autosport
If you weren't with us yesterday, you missed a LOT of incident and an incredible Friday for Elfyn Evans and DMACK: 
Welcome back to Autosport Live, day two of Rally Argentina is just beginning in earnest with the first few cars taking to SS10.
That's where we're going to leave you for now. The crews are heading to the superspecial for an evening run and we'll bring you the full report on the afternoon loop in our news section once that's finished.
Autosport Live is back in Rally Argentina business at midday UK time tomorrow. See you then.
Autosport Live is back in Rally Argentina business at midday UK time tomorrow. See you then.
Information
SS8 summary:
* Evans chills out in the lead and lets Paddon get a stage win...
* ...but Evans still leads overall by 52.8s from Ostberg
* Latvala tumbles from third to sixth with a puncture
* Tanak loses a few seconds with a late puncture too
* Ogier bends his steering a little but is now fourth overall
* Recovering Paddon takes seventh from Bertelli
* Evans chills out in the lead and lets Paddon get a stage win...
* ...but Evans still leads overall by 52.8s from Ostberg
* Latvala tumbles from third to sixth with a puncture
* Tanak loses a few seconds with a late puncture too
* Ogier bends his steering a little but is now fourth overall
* Recovering Paddon takes seventh from Bertelli
Information
SS8 RESULTS
Stage times:
1 Paddon
2 Evans +4.0s
3 Neuville +7.1s
4 Sordo +9.0s
5 Ostberg +9.1s
6 Ogier +10.6s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Ostberg +52.8s
3 Neuville +1m02.6s
4 Ogier +1m07.2s
5 Tanak +1m09.1s
6 Latvala +1m31.5s
7 Paddon +3m37.4s
8 Bertelli +4m01.9s
9 Hanninen +4m40.3s
10 Tidemand +6m21.3s
Stage times:
1 Paddon
2 Evans +4.0s
3 Neuville +7.1s
4 Sordo +9.0s
5 Ostberg +9.1s
6 Ogier +10.6s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Ostberg +52.8s
3 Neuville +1m02.6s
4 Ogier +1m07.2s
5 Tanak +1m09.1s
6 Latvala +1m31.5s
7 Paddon +3m37.4s
8 Bertelli +4m01.9s
9 Hanninen +4m40.3s
10 Tidemand +6m21.3s
Tidemand completes the stage too, he was the pacesetter in WRC2 all day anyway and most of the people he was beating have hit trouble as well, so his lead is already many minutes. He sits 10th overall.
Paddon has indeed moved up to seventh at Bertelli's expense. And Hanninen is now gaining on Bertelli quite fast too - that gap's down to 38.4s.
Ostberg had a few brake scares on that one, but nothing too costly and he heads off to the superspecial very perky.
A solid fifth-fastest time on the stage from Ostberg. He loses a couple of seconds to Neuville but still has a 9.8s cushion. He's 52.8s behind Evans overall but second will be just fine on what's really his first proper event of 2017.
Hanninen is still in this rally. Here he is now, seventh fastest on the stage, 17.6s off the pace, and now over a minute behind Paddon in what will be eighth overall when everyone is in.
Quote
"We're only doing what we have to do," says Evans - control the rally from the front, in other words, something he's never had chance to try doing at WRC level before.
For the first time today, Evans isn't fastest - he slots in second to Paddon, 4s down.
For now that puts him in a 1m02.6s overall lead ahead of Neuville, though that will be smaller once Ostberg arrives.
For now that puts him in a 1m02.6s overall lead ahead of Neuville, though that will be smaller once Ostberg arrives.
Stopwatch
Storming end to the stage from Paddon, who goes quickest so far by 7.1s over Neuville.
He will almost certainly move past Bertelli into seventh overall on this one.
He will almost certainly move past Bertelli into seventh overall on this one.
Sordo reckons he lost 3-4s by stalling after hitting something on that stage, but he's still second fastest so far behind Neuville. He'll still be very much outside the top 10 at the end of tonight.
So pending the arrival of Ostberg, who is doing Evans-esque rapid pace on the splits, the podium group is now Neuville, Ogier +4.6s, Tanak +6.5s then Latvala now nearly half a minute adrift.
Crash
Tanak reveals he's got a puncture too, on the front right in his case.
"The Michelin is pretty good - 10kms off the rim and it was still a good time," he says.
"The Michelin is pretty good - 10kms off the rim and it was still a good time," he says.
Back at split one, there's a tie for the fastest time between Tanak, Paddon, Evans and Ostberg.
Stopwatch
All looking smooth for leader Evans, he's fastest of all by a few tenths at split two.
Ogier had a bit of a scare on that stage - he says he clouted a rock and slightly bent the steering. It's not too severe but he'll have to carry that damage through the superspecial shortly too.
Tanak's strong start to the stage faded, he comes in 6.6s off Neuville's pace and therefore falls back behind team-mate Ogier in the overall podium battle. That'll probably put him fifth.
Quote
"Six kilometres into the stage," is when Latvala says the puncture happened. "I was avoiding a rock, I had to do a correction, I went wide and put the tyre off the rim. We lost 30s but it was better to carry on."
Crash
Latvala has a right-rear puncture on his Toyota.
Stopwatch
Neuville comes in fastest so far, 3.5s up on the road-sweeping Ogier. That means Neuville is now 4.6s ahead in what could well be third.
Crash
Ogier is through in 13m49.6s - but problems for Latvala, he's nearly half a minute down at the stage end. That's going to plunge him from third to sixth.
Stopwatch
Not relevant for the podium battle as he's still last in the rally - or 13th as it's now known as people keep dropping out in the midfield - but Sordo is quicker than everyone else at split one now, 0.7s up on Tanak.
Every driver through is faster than the man ahead at present, which suggests a surface cleaning up.
Evans has now begun the stage too.
Every driver through is faster than the man ahead at present, which suggests a surface cleaning up.
Evans has now begun the stage too.
Stopwatch
But that first split from Neuville now looks a bit pedestrian compared to Tanak - he's fastest there by 1.2s over Neuville, 2.5s over Latvala and 3.1s over Ogier. That would draw him level with Latvala for third overall.
Stopwatch
Great first split from Neuville, he's 1.3s faster than Latvala and 1.9s up on Ogier. He started the stage fifth, 0.1s behind Tanak and 2.6s off Latvala's third place.
Stopwatch
First splits in, and Latvala has taken 0.6s out of Ogier. It was on this stage this morning that Ogier had his biggest headache with road cleaning.
Key thing right now is that incredible tight battle for third- just 3.7s blankets Latvala, Tanak, Neuville and Ogier. Ostberg is now 9.2s clear of them.
Information
Already up and running on today's final full-length stage.
SS8 Santa Rosa – San Agustin (14.82 miles)
For some people the most famous part of the Rally Argentina route is the rocks at the start of El Condor. For others, it's the watersplash just after the start of this stage. This is the one which caught Petter Solberg and his Ford Focus WRC out in 1999.
While the weather has dried out a little in the last couple of days, the drivers are expecting these watersplashes to be fuller than on the recce.
Generally, this stage is fast and flowing, but again it has quite a soft and sandy surface. From the recce the drivers reported the final section was getting quite rough and, if the road is going to degrade quickly, they expect that to come in the last couple of miles.
SS8 Santa Rosa – San Agustin (14.82 miles)
For some people the most famous part of the Rally Argentina route is the rocks at the start of El Condor. For others, it's the watersplash just after the start of this stage. This is the one which caught Petter Solberg and his Ford Focus WRC out in 1999.
While the weather has dried out a little in the last couple of days, the drivers are expecting these watersplashes to be fuller than on the recce.
Generally, this stage is fast and flowing, but again it has quite a soft and sandy surface. From the recce the drivers reported the final section was getting quite rough and, if the road is going to degrade quickly, they expect that to come in the last couple of miles.
By: Matt Beer
Published:
Lap:
