Loeb secures Rally Argentina win

The decision to begin the rally with a superspecial in Buenos Aires' River Plate Stadium - 700kms from the rally base in Cordoba - backfired on the organisers when storms and fog delayed the flights returning competitors from the stage on Thursday night.

All of Friday's scheduled stages except the evening superspecial in Cordoba were therefore cancelled, meaning that the rally did not get away in earnest until Saturday morning.

Loeb, who had been critical of the schedule during the build-up to the rally, took control as soon as the real stages began, winning all five tests on the first leg two loop.

After a brief battle with Petter Solberg, Marcus Gronholm established himself in second and managed to keep Loeb within sight until the final morning, when a dominant performance in muddy conditions after heavy overnight rain allowed Loeb to build an insurmountable lead.

By the time the title rivals returned to Cordoba stadium for another head to head run through the final superspecial, they were 35 seconds apart and there was nothing Gronholm could do to prevent Loeb from increasing his championship lead to three points - the Frenchman finishing his rally with a flourish by setting the fastest time in the stadium.

Mikko Hirvonen had been quickest in the Thursday and Friday superspecials but was quickly shuffled back on the fully-fledged stages. He felt he had under-performed after losing touch with the leaders on Saturday, although he was handed an easy third place when Petter Solberg suffered an engine failure. Hirvonen then cruised through leg three to ensure a lonely podium finish.

Stobart Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala starred for the second consecutive rally, setting a series of top five stage times and earning fourth place after Solberg retired and Dani Sordo lost two minutes with hydraulic problems on Saturday afternoon.

Latvala's teammate Henning Solberg was slightly faster than the Finn in the second half of the rally but had already lost too much ground thanks to a hesitant start to Saturday's stages and a puncture.

Once he found a more comfortable set-up, Solberg charged from ninth to fifth, overcoming Chris Atkinson as the Subaru struggled for traction again, and then fending off the rapidly recovering Sordo this morning.

They arrived at the decisive superspecial just 5.4 seconds apart, but an error by Sordo eased the pressure on Solberg and allowing the Norweigan to make it two Stobart Fords in the top five.

Their teammate Matthew Wilson rejoined under SupeRally regulations after hitting ignition problems on Saturday morning. Although he was almost an hour adrift on the timesheets, he ended his brief event on a high by going fourth quickest in Cordoba stadium.

Manfred Stohl completed the points-scoring and World Rally car finishers after a quiet weekend in the OMV Kronos Citroen.

Pos  Driver     Make         Time
 1.  Loeb       Citroen      2h 52:03.8
 2.  Gronholm   Ford          +    36.7
 3.  Hirvonen   Ford          +  2:15.2
 4.  Latvala    Ford          +  3:43.0
 5.  H Solberg  Ford          +  4:10.1
 6.  Sordo      Citroen       +  4:23.6
 7.  Atkinson   Subaru        +  4:43.4
 8.  Stohl      Citroen       +  5:20.2
 9.  Villagra   Mitsubishi    + 16:49.9
10.  Arai       Subaru        + 16:59.2