Jari-Matti Latvala’s overall lead of Rally Argentina has been trimmed to 15 seconds following stage nine, the 16.57-kilometre Las Bajadas-Villa del Dique test.
Running first on the road, Latvala expected to lose some time on the all-gravel stage in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC and ended up fifth fastest, 12.3s behind stage winner Sebastien Loeb, who is running fifth on the road in his factory Citroen DS3 WRC.
Petter Solberg was second fastest through the run and is now 1.5s behind fellow DS3 WRC driver Sebastien Ogier in the overall standings.
Standings after SS9:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | 2h10m44.0s |
| 02 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +15.0s |
| 03 | P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON | Citroën DS3 WRC | +16.5s |
| 04 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +41.9s |
| 05 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +1m23.6s |
| 06 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +3m22.3s |
| 07 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +3m56.6s |
| 08 | F. VILLAGRA / J. PÉREZ COMPANC | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4m08.5s |
| 09 | K. BLOCK / A. GELSOMINO | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +8m14.2s |
| 10 | H. PADDON / J. KENNARD | Subaru Impreza | +14m17.3s |
| 11 | D. TAGIROV / A. ZAVERSHINSKAYA | Subaru Impreza | +22m09.8s |
| 12 | A. LEVY / D. LEVY | Mitsubishi Evo IX | +22m44.0s |
| 13 | P. FLODIN / M. ANDERSSON | Subaru Impreza | +23m04.4s |
| 14 | M. KOSCIUSZKO / M. SZCZEPANIAK | Mitsubishi Evo X | +23m22.5s |
| 15 | A. KREMER / K. WICHA | Mitsubishi Evo X | +26m16.0s |