Rally Review WRC Argentina: Loeb is in Argentina, so Loeb wins in Argentina
By Martijn Kösters
Another one of those statistics unlikely to be broken, the amount of wins in the Rally of Argentina by Sebastien Loeb. Eight, eight WRC victories in a row in Argentina. It will take at least till 2022 before someone can break that record, unless Tommi Makinen comes back and wins another six.
But the action. Rally got underway with a short street stage on Thursday, with Ogier taking the early lead of 1.9s over Sordo and 2.2 over Loeb. Latvala, Mikkelsen and Hirvonen followed. Day two saw much longer stages and much more gravel. Two stages were run twice, Santa Catalina and Ascochinga. In the morning loop it was Ogier who held on to his lead despite the slippy and foggy conditions. Loeb meanwhile struggled with understeer and was not happy with his rhytm. More severe issues for Neuville and Ostberg, who both had poorly or non-functioning wipers. Dani Sordo, who was running 7th after two stages, rolled his car on the third stage, dropping a heap of time and out of the points. He did complete the stage but without power steering. Due to Sordo’s crash, Ogier got held up since Dani was blocking the road, yet Ogier still managed to be third fastest after SS3.
Second run of day two saw Ogier extend his lead on Hirvonen and later Loeb to 16.5 seconds, with both Citroën drivers close to one-another. Meanwhile Mads Ostberg became the First retirement when a steering arm broke during SS4. After SS4 it was Ogier from Loeb (12.5) from Hirvonen (16) from Latvala (27.5), Mikkelsen (1.20), Novikov (1.23).
SS5 threw more tricky conditions at the drivers, namely drizzle and fog. Both Citroën drivers weren’t happy with the circumstances, Hirvonen having troubles with a misty windscreen and Loeb with false weather info. Latvala struggled with a faulty handbrake.
Day three then, 2x2 stages plus a city super special. First stages were drive non a muddier surface then before after some overnight rain, yet this didn’t bother any of the Sebs who went fastest, the younger one edging out the older by 1.4s. Ostberg rejoined the rally again under rally2 rules. Stage 7 saw Ogier making a rare mistake in foggy conditions. Combined with some water pools on the road conditions were very tricky. Eventually it turned out Ogier went straight at a corner and needed to reverse his way out, costing him 40 seconds.
After SS7: Loeb, Hirvonen (8.9), Ogier (26.3), Latvala (44.8), Novikov (1.55), Mikkelsen (2.34)
The second run saw puncture emerge for the First time in the rally, this time it was Hirvonen’s and Ogier’s turn. Loeb increased his lead to 30 seconds whil Hirvonen and Ogier swap places. Mikkelsen thought he had a puncture, but lateron the damage seemed to be rather to the suspension than to the rubber and Andreas had to retire for the day.
The final major stage of the day sees Hirvonen encounter even more problems, an electrical glitch means the car’s master switch turns the car off completely at random intervals. Unlike a road car restarting costs more effort and more time. He drops six minutes and into sixth place. Latvala was also iun trouble on stage 9, a puncture added two minutes to what was a good run. Problems for the two finns meant that Novikov was promoted to a podium spot and Neuville found himself in 5th.
After day three: Loeb, Ogier (39.8), Novikov (2.43), Latvala (2.51), Neuville (3.32), Hirvonen (6.43)
The Final day of the rally still has some potential in it, Novikov and Latvala being very close to eachother and the battle for the lead still not over should see interesting action. Latvala and Novikov went flat out on the First stage of the day, yet the Finn only gained 0.9s in the battle for third. Also Loeb took another 15 seconds on Ogier, who admitted he treated the final day as a recce, looking after the car in the rough terrain. No need to push anyway since Loeb is no championship contender. Second stage this Saturday saw Latvala quickest again, taking 3.9 out of Novikov with the gap now being 3.4 seconds. Part reason for this is Novikov having run the stage in Road Mode unintentionally. Further down Prokop, Sordo and Mikkelsen are within 8 seconds of 8th place. Another stage win for Latvala on SS13, and this time with a reward: 3rd place. Latvala drove Unlimited and uninformed as he didn’t have splits in the car. Further down in the battle for 8th Sordo and Mikkelsen both moved up a place on behalf of Prokop who is now 10th by 18 seconds.
The Power stage was 16km long this time and only could go to one man: Jari-Matti Latvala, who completed all four stages on Saturday fastest. Ogier and Hirvonen took the remaining PS points and Mikkelsen passed Sordo by two tenths for 8th place.
Final: Loeb, Ogier(2), Latvala(3), Novikov, Neuville, Hirvonen(1), Ostberg, Mikkelsen, Sordo, Prokop
Points: Ogier 122, Loeb 68, Hirvonen 57, Latvala 49, Ostberg 38, Neuville 35, Sordo 29, Novikov 27, Prokop 21, Al-Attiyah 20
The second run saw puncture emerge for the First time in the rally, this time it was Hirvonen’s and Ogier’s turn. Loeb increased his lead to 30 seconds whil Hirvonen and Ogier swap places. Mikkelsen thought he had a puncture, but lateron the damage seemed to be rather to the suspension than to the rubber and Andreas had to retire for the day.
The final major stage of the day sees Hirvonen encounter even more problems, an electrical glitch means the car’s master switch turns the car off completely at random intervals. Unlike a road car restarting costs more effort and more time. He drops six minutes and into sixth place. Latvala was also iun trouble on stage 9, a puncture added two minutes to what was a good run. Problems for the two finns meant that Novikov was promoted to a podium spot and Neuville found himself in 5th.
After day three: Loeb, Ogier (39.8), Novikov (2.43), Latvala (2.51), Neuville (3.32), Hirvonen (6.43)
The Final day of the rally still has some potential in it, Novikov and Latvala being very close to eachother and the battle for the lead still not over should see interesting action. Latvala and Novikov went flat out on the First stage of the day, yet the Finn only gained 0.9s in the battle for third. Also Loeb took another 15 seconds on Ogier, who admitted he treated the final day as a recce, looking after the car in the rough terrain. No need to push anyway since Loeb is no championship contender. Second stage this Saturday saw Latvala quickest again, taking 3.9 out of Novikov with the gap now being 3.4 seconds. Part reason for this is Novikov having run the stage in Road Mode unintentionally. Further down Prokop, Sordo and Mikkelsen are within 8 seconds of 8th place. Another stage win for Latvala on SS13, and this time with a reward: 3rd place. Latvala drove Unlimited and uninformed as he didn’t have splits in the car. Further down in the battle for 8th Sordo and Mikkelsen both moved up a place on behalf of Prokop who is now 10th by 18 seconds.
The Power stage was 16km long this time and only could go to one man: Jari-Matti Latvala, who completed all four stages on Saturday fastest. Ogier and Hirvonen took the remaining PS points and Mikkelsen passed Sordo by two tenths for 8th place.
Final: Loeb, Ogier(2), Latvala(3), Novikov, Neuville, Hirvonen(1), Ostberg, Mikkelsen, Sordo, Prokop
Points: Ogier 122, Loeb 68, Hirvonen 57, Latvala 49, Ostberg 38, Neuville 35, Sordo 29, Novikov 27, Prokop 21, Al-Attiyah 20
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