Sunday 26 April 2015

Rally - Meeke's tango



Going into the final day of Rally Argentina, Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle lead the rally by just 38 seconds from team Citroen team mates Mads Østberg and Jonas Andersson. In a bad rally for the VW team, Latvala is the only driver still in contention, but over a minute behind.

Fingers crossed too for Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt currently holding fourth place in the Fiesta ahead of Thierry Neuville who is over 2 minutes behind the young Brits after a puncture in the Hyundai.

Argentina has proved to be one the toughest event so far in this year’s FIA world series with Ogier forced out after fuelling problems and Mikkelsen punctured a tyre which then contributed to a shock absorber breakage.

Heavy rain also forced a re-route when the very long San Marcos to Characato stage was cut from 56 to 42 kilometres as sections of road became impassable.

At the conclusion of Day 2, Kris Meeke commented: “There are only 32 kilometres left to go tomorrow but they are some of the most difficult roads in the World Championship! So it’s not over yet, by any means. The roads are barely wider than the car on El Condor, and you have a lot of rocks and moonlike landscapes. It’s going to be a long day for us. I still have to finish the job…”

An upbeat Elfyn Evans added: "We've kept out of trouble today and that puts us up to fourth which is the kind of position we were looking to achieve. We weren't here to push the boat out for the top positions so I think that we can be pleased with where we are. Now it'll just be a case of staying calm for tomorrow's final stages."

Team mate Ott Tanak lost out when his Fiesta hit a rock in a water splash on the fourth stage which damaged the front-left wheel.

Leaderboard:
1. Kris Meeke / Paul Nagle (DS 3 WRC) 3:14:51.7
2. Mads Østberg / Jonas Andersson (DS 3 WRC) +38.6
3. Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) +1:03.7
4. Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +2:24.6
5. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +4:51.0
6. Martin Prokop / Jan Tomanek (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +5:39.0
7. Khalid Al Qassimi / Chris Patterson (DS 3 WRC) +10:34.3
8. Dani Sordo / Marc Marti (Hyundai i20 WRC) +11:14.9
9. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari / Marshall Clarke (Ford Fiesta RRC) +14:14.6
10. Diego Dominguez / Edgardo Galindo (Ford Fiesta R5) +17:10.0…

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