Ford's cautious strategy pays off
Works Ford duo Marcus Gronholm and Mikko Hirvonen's relatively steady approach to the opening morning of the Rally Argentina gave them first and fourth positions after the first six stages
While reigning champion Sebastien Loeb had a spin in SS3 and erstwhile rally leader Petter Solberg lost time with a series of problems, Gronholm and Hirvonen only had minor windscreen wiper and brake glitches respectively.
"I had a problem with the wipers on the first stage, but it wasn't pouring with rain." Gronholm told autosport.com. "It was just a loose connection and I fixed it after the stage.
"I pushed quite hard in SS6, but I haven't been taking big risks this morning."
It was thought that drivers running early in the order might be hampered by dusty stage surfaces, but instead lead runners such as Gronholm and Loeb have been relatively unhindered, whereas drivers in their wake have noticed ruts forming in the roads.
"I thought that running second on the road might be a problem, but it's just digging out," said Gronholm.
Hirvonen is particularly keen to score points in Argentina, so has driven relatively conservatively so far.
"We could drive at this speed for the whole rally," he told autosport.com. "We weren't taking any risks."
Share Or Save This Story
Remembering Richard Burns, 20 years on from his death
Autosport 75: What Carlos Sainz Sr is really like
The outrageous mountain-climbers that became Pikes Peak legends
WRC Portugal: Solberg stuns in the rain to jump from fourth to first
BTCC Brands Hatch: De Leon and Ingram looking strong in free practice
The real reason Verstappen is drawn to GT3 racing
MotoGP French GP: Bagnaia takes surprise pole in Ducati 1-2
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments