[Argentina Day 2] Loeb Sets Up Victory

Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb is on track to claim his fifth straight Rally Argentina victory, if he can steer clear of drama during tomorrow’s remaining five stages.

The second leg of the 2009 Rally Argentina was as long as the first and took crews southwest of Villa Carlos Paz to the notorious El Condor, Giulio Cesare and Mina Clavero stages which have long been highlights for the aficionados. The day’s menu comprised two identical loops of four tests stages before concluding with the weekend’s second visit to the super special at Cordoba Stadium.

Loeb was propelled into the lead after the demise of Ford rival Mikko Hirvonen with an overheating engine and Loeb’s own team mate Dani Sordo who struggled throughout the day running first on the road.

At the end of the day Loeb’s advantage sits at just under 1 minute, with Sordo second and Jarri-Matti Latvala in third.

“We’ve got a lead of a minute and a half over Jari-Matti Latvala, so it’s looking pretty good,” smiled Sebastien Loeb Saturday evening. “Sunday’s stages aren’t easy, but there are only 48km of competitive action remaining, so I think we should be able to control from in front.”

“My intention is to hold on to second place,” added Sordo. “Latvala is only 40 seconds behind but I should hopefully be able to keep him at bay. It’s looking good for a one-two finish for Citroen, and that would be an excellent result for our World Championship chances.”

The Solberg brothers hold fourth and fifth, with Petter holding the slight advantage in his Citroen Xsara against Henning’s Ford Focus. Both suffered during the day with punctures and sit well off the pace of the top three.

Leading positions after SS18:
1. Sebastien Loeb (Citroen C4 WRC) 3h26m03.7s
2. Dani Sordo (Citroen C4 WRC) +58.6s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus WRC08) +1m40.1s
4. Petter Solberg (Citroen Xsara WRC) +2m40.3s
5. Henning Solberg (Ford Focus WRC08) +3m24.0s
6. Federico Villagra (Ford Focus WRC08) +5m09.0s
7. Matthew Wilson (Ford Focus WRC08) +5m27.0s
8. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus WRC08) +15m57.6s
9. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Subaru Impreza WRX) +19m45.0s
10. Sebastien Ogier (Citroen C4 WRC) +20m19.3s