A dramatic start to today’s first full day of Rally Argentina – both Mikko Hirvonen and Mads Østberg were sidelined in the opening 27.09km stage from Santa Catalina to La Pampa (SS2).
On what could be the roughest and toughest Rally Argentina ever, this opener was the stage the drivers feared more than any. It is littered with rocks and compressions where torrential downpours earlier in the year have washed away the road.
Hirvonen, who was fastest in yesterday’s shakedown, hit a wall 7km after the start and the damage to his Ford Fiesta RS was too great to continue.
Next to go was Østberg, who struck a rock 16km into the stage and ripped a wheel from his Citroen DS3.
Also in trouble was Dani Sordo, who dropped almost three minutes in his Hyundai i20. He struggled with a lack of power, which the Spaniard thought might be related to the air intake into the turbo.
Fastest was Sébastien Ogier, for whom this was his 150th stage win in a Volkswagen Polo R. The Frenchman was 2.8sec clear of team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala, who reported an intercom problem.