In the final stage of the WRC Rally Argentina, as has become customary for Power Stages to be nail-biting thrillers, Sebastien Ogier went into the stage 3.3sec ahead of teammate Sebastien Loeb and a little over 5sec ahead of Mikko Hirvonen.
The final 3.9km stage saw this podium change completely: Ogier brought his Citroen DS3 WRC to the finish 10.7sec slower than Loeb. Petter Solberg posts the quickest stage time, and claims fourth. Loeb’s stage time handed him the overall win, 2.4sec ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and Ogier left to scratch his head at the result that could have been 7.3sec adrift of Loeb.
Loeb is both surprised and delighted: “It’s incredible. We thought our chances of winning were over. For sure our rivals hit trouble and eventually we’re here winning the rally. We had close battles with Mikko, Jari-Matti and my team-mate. It’s very tricky to survive here. This was one we didn’t expect.”
Final Classification:
01) S. Loeb – 04h 03m 56.9s
02) M. Hirvonen + 02.4s
03) S. Ogier + 07.3s
04) P. Solberg + 32.6s
05) M. Ostberg + 05m 16.8s
06) F. Villagra + 06m 48.5s
07) J-M. Latvala + 11m 34.5s
08) M. Wilson + 13m 32.7s
09) H. Paddon + 25m 43.8s
10) P. Flodin + 33m 34.1s
A full event report will be published in this coming week’s issue of Handbrakes & Hairpins. to read this week’s issue, please click here: http://handbrakeshairpins.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/hh-184.pdf