Sebastien Ogier has slashed Jari-Matti Latvala’s Rally Argentina lead to 10.6s with three stages of day two remaining.
Ogier was 5.4s faster than Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb, who is now just 19.4s behind Mikko Hirvonen in fifth overall.
“It’s a good time,” said Ogier. “We had another good drive on this stage, one of our best stages on the rally. You have to take risks and see what happens. Today is more about driving and I prefer this.”
Ford driver Latvala said: “There was quite a lot of gravel on the [Tarmac section], much more than in the morning and I went wide in a few places. It was quite difficult but no big mistakes.”
Petter Solberg was fourth quickest in his privateer DS3 WRC. Although he was pleased with his performance he falls 11.4s behind Ogier in third overall.
“I’m very happy with that stage,” said Solberg, who is carrying one spare tyre for the afternoon loop of stages in his Citroen. “We did some changes to the car and it was a big difference. It can be very exciting [for the rest of the day] on gravel.”
Standings after SS12:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | 2h47m13.9s |
| 02 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +10.6s |
| 03 | P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON | Citroën DS3 WRC | +22.0s |
| 04 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +45.5s |
| 05 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +1m04.9s |
| 06 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4m06.5s |
| 07 | F. VILLAGRA / J. PÉREZ COMPANC | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +5m02.8s |
| 08 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +5m47.9s |
| 09 | H. PADDON / J. KENNARD | Subaru Impreza | +18m20.0s |
| 10 | K. BLOCK / A. GELSOMINO | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +22m40.9s |
| 11 | P. FLODIN / M. ANDERSSON | Subaru Impreza | +26m40.5s |
| 12 | M. KOSCIUSZKO / M. SZCZEPANIAK | Mitsubishi Evo X | +26m52.0s |
| 13 | D. TAGIROV / A. ZAVERSHINSKAYA | Subaru Impreza | +27m45.8s |
| 14 | A. KREMER / K. WICHA | Mitsubishi Evo X | +31m55.6s |
| 15 | N. FUCHS / F. MUSSANO | Mitsubishi Evo X | +32m20.6s |