Day 1 – Sebastien Loeb leader by default!

At the end of the first day of the Argentine rally, the 4th event of the 2008 season, it is the reigning four-time world champion, Sebastien Loeb, who leads with more than a minute and a half ahead of Chris Atkinson and Petter Solberg. The Ford drivers had a very complicated first day.

The French driver in the Citroen C4 is in the lead after the first eight stages of the Argentina rally and 150 kilometers covered. He benefited from several incidents experienced by the BP Ford drivers, who were ahead of him by several dozen seconds, to regain the top spot in the standings.

Loeb was indeed third after the first two stages of the rally until the moment when Jari-Matti Latvala went off the track, losing nearly 10 minutes. The Ford Focus driver, who won the Swedish rally several months ago, came out without major damage and quickly went back on the attack, notably setting the fastest time in SS8. He re-entered the top 10 at the end of the first day to occupy the 8th position.

Occupying the second place at the time, Sebastien Loeb was more than 50 seconds behind Mikko Hirvonen before the latter broke a suspension on a rock 8km from the finish of special stage 5. The Finnish driver found himself in 18th position, out of the constructor points.

Taking advantage of Ford’s misfortunes, Citroën places Loeb in the lead while Sordo is currently in 5th place. The young Spaniard is a few seconds behind Gigi Gall (4th). Both are fighting for a spot on the podium, currently held by Peter Solberg despite a suspension problem during the last three stages of the day.

Subaru delivers a very strong performance as, in addition to Solberg Jr. on the podium, it is Atkinson with his second place who is achieving the best performance of his career.

With nearly 5 minutes of delay, the Munchi’s Ford team at home achieved the 6th and 7th performances thanks to its two drivers: Frederico Villagra and Malcolm Wilson.

The Aigner team, participating in their second rally in the WRC this season, also creates a surprise with a 206 and a spot in the top 10!

Henning Solberg, the other Stobart driver, also experienced problems with an off-track excursion and a destroyed suspension. He is currently in 24th position.

Per Gunnar Andersson in the Suzuki SX4, a victim of a problem during the first stage, is much further back in 32nd place with a 40-minute delay. His teammate, Tony Gardemeister, had to retire in stage no. 6.

The weather conditions significantly disrupted the rally. With rain mixing in the morning, followed by fog and mist in the afternoon during the high-altitude stage, visibility and grip were reduced, which explains the large number of mistakes observed.

Rally of Argentina – Day 1: