Argentina WRC: Loeb takes lead after Ogier mistake
Sebastien Loeb moved into the Rally Argentina lead on stage seven as Sebastien Ogier made a mistake and dropped to third
Loeb had promised to take the fight to Ogier on day two and immediately started gaining on his arch-rival on the opening Santa Rosa stage.
A mistake near the end of SS6 then sent Loeb off the road briefly, costing him a handful of seconds and bringing stage winner Ogier's lead up to 16s.
But the tables turned on the following Amboy stage, as Ogier dropped 44s with an error of his own.
"It was a long slow corner and then there was big mud on the exit," said Ogier.
"We understeered and had to reverse. My handbrake didn't work to save me."
Ogier's Volkswagen is now 26.3s behind Loeb, with the latter's Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen 8.9s off the lead in second.
Jari-Matti Latvala and Evgeny Novikov continue to fill the top five, while only 7s separate Andreas Mikkelsen and Thierry Neuville in sixth and seventh.
After retiring from leg one, Mads Ostberg has already made rapid progress under Rally2 rules.
Fastest of all on Amboy despite running first on the road, the Norwegian's M-Sport Ford is back up to ninth.
Ostberg stormed away from fellow returnee Dani Sordo, whose Citroen was slightly drowned in a stage-six water splash.
Leading positions after SS10: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 2h42m58.1s 2. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 8.9s 3. Sebastien Ogier VW + 26.3s 4. Jari-Matti Latvala VW + 44.8s 5. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 1m55.4s 6. Andreas Mikkelsen VW + 2m34.1s 7. Thierry Neuville M-Sport Ford + 2m41.1s 8. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 9m23.9s 9. Mads Ostberg M-Sport Ford + 10m21.7s 10. Dani Sordo Citroen + 12m03.3s
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About this article
| Series | WRC |
| Drivers | Sébastien Loeb , Sébastien Ogier |
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