Rally Argentina: Latvala extending lead over VW team-mate Ogier
Jari-Matti Latvala increased his lead on Rally Argentina to over 21 seconds after a strong run through Saturday's first loop of stages
The Volkswagen driver began the day with a 17.7s advantage over Volkswagen team-mate Sebastien Ogier after an action-packed first leg and proceeded to beat his rival on the first two tests of day two.
Latvala extended the gap by a slender 0.3s through San Agustin before posting the quickest time on the Amboy-Yacanto stage. He enters the interval with a 21.2s advantage over the reigning champion.
Kris Meeke continues to hold on to a comfortable third place and his nearest rival is Andreas Mikkelsen, who returned under Rally 2 rules after he suffered a mechanical issue on Friday.
The Norwegian went quickest of all through the first stage and emphatically beat both Robert Kubica and Elfyn Evans on the second test.
Kubica's cautious approach is paying dividends as he turned the overnight 0.2s deficit to Welshman Evans to a 16.5s advantage after 80 kilometres of running.
Hyundai's Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo rejoined the action after their first day dramas and while the Belgian has remained competitive, his Spanish team-mate was forced to retire on the first stage having suffered yet another suspected loose turbo pipe.
Keep up with Rally Argentina on AUTOSPORT with both live radio commentary from WRC Live and text updates from all of motorsport in Race Centre Live
Leading positions after SS7: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jari-Matti Latvala VW 2h42m56.5s 2. Sebastien Ogier VW +21.2s 3. Kris Meeke Citroen +2m29.9s 4. Andreas Mikkelsen VW +5m20.8s 5. Robert Kubica M-Sport Ford +5m26.8s 6. Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford +5m43.3s 7. Martin Prokop Czech Ford +6m01.5s 8. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +6m08.9s 9. Nasser Al-Attiyah M-Sport Ford +10m28.1s* 10. Diego Dominguez Skoda +16m14.9s*
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
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