Rally Argentina – after stage 13, Santa Rosa - San Agustin 1
Forty-nine of the original 56 starters left a dark and damp Carlos Paz this morning for the second day's action in this fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Nineteen of those are competing under SupeRally regulations having retired during yesterday's gruelling opening leg. Another tough day lies in store, with two identical loops of four speed tests lying in wait south of Carlos Paz in the Calamuchita valley. The day ends with a second pass over the short special stage at Cordoba's soccer stadium before competitors return to Carlos Paz after 154.38km of competition.
BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila restarted in eighth and were fifth through the opening 22.17km test from Santa Monica to Amboy in their Focus RS World Rally Car. However, the 22-year-old Finn's car refused to start for the following 16.41km Villa del Dique - Las Bajadas stage.
"On the first stage we drove down a long fast straight with some jumps, and a rock in the middle of the road struck the sump guard beneath the car," said Latvala. "At the end we opened the bonnet to check everything was OK before driving to the next stage. We pulled over before the start to wait for our turn, but when I tried to start the engine nothing happened. We tried to 'bump start' it to release the starter motor but nothing happened. The sump guard must have impacted with either the starter motor or cable. When we realised we had gone beyond the time limit, spectators helped push start it."
The delay meant Latvala exceeded the time limit. Although he completed the remaining tests, he faced exclusion from the rest of the day and was therefore withdrawn on his return to the service park in Carlos Paz. He will return for tomorrow's final leg under SupeRally rules.
Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen restarted in 25th in their Focus RS after yesterday's troubles. The Finns were consistently fast on the four stages, culminating in third fastest time through the final 21.41km test from Santa Rosa to San Agustin, and returned to service having climbed into the manufacturers' points. "The stages were slippery and sometimes after a watersplash we were surprised just how slippery," said Hirvonen. "There was a lot of mud and because we're running down the start order, the surface was soft. The car is working well and it's a shame I'm not fighting for a win. I'm not driving at maximum speed because I don't want to take risks. Manufacturer points are important to Ford so I want to keep a steady pace and see what happenso t the cars ahead which are fighting hard."
Leaderboard after stage 13 of 21
1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 2hr 41min 05.4sec
2. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 2hr 42min 37.8sec
3. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 2hr 42min 41.9sec
4. G Galli/G Bernacchini ITA Ford Focus RS 2hr 43min 52.2sec
5. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 2hr 43min 54.9sec
6. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 2hr 50min 06.5sec
7. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 2hr 51min 04.9sec
8. C Rautenbach/D Senior ZIM Citroen C4 2hr 55min 42.3sec
9. A Aigner/K Wicha GER Mitsubishi Lancer 2hr 59min 59.7sec
10 S Beltran/R Rojas ARG Mitsubishi Lancer 3hr 01min 33.2sec