Loeb and Citroën remain unbeaten in Argentina

- Loeb and Elena victorious for the eighth time in Argentina
- Ninth consecutive Rally Argentina victory for Citroën
- Matton encouraged by DS3 WRC developments

Clear leaders going into the final day, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena controlled proceedings from the front to grab their eighth win in Argentina and Citroën’s ninth consecutive WRC win in South America.

Two podium places in Rally Argentina

Volkswagen has celebrated another successful weekend in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), extended its lead in the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championship, and retained its position as the number one manufacturer. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) took second place behind record-breaking world champion Sébastien Loeb (Citroën), claiming their fifth podium place in this season’s WRC after their fifth outing with the Polo R WRC. After starting the final day in Argentina in fourth position, Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN) fought their way into third place and contributed towards the team’s success with their second podium finish of the season.

Motorsport Italia Rally Argentina Review

‘Hello everyone, Tomo here again for the last time from Rally Argentina. Day Two started well with some great splits compared to Martin Prokop and local star Gabriel Pozzo. Michał started at a strong pace and had an advantage of nearly 24 seconds over both of them at the third split. However, disaster struck when Michał suffered suspension damage on the right side on his MINI John Cooper Works WRC. Unfortunately, it put him out of the rally due to irreparable damage. We are all bitterly disappointed, but we’ll soon shake it off as Greece isn’t too far away.

Motorsport Italia Rally Argentina day one update

‘Hello everyone – Tomo here again after a tough day at Rally Argentina.

‘This morning Michał started third on the road. The Start Selection process was interesting, because Novikov picked first on the road. Although that went against the trend for positions later down the Starting Order, he was concerned about rocks being pulled onto the stage and hoped for a clean run this morning.

Motorsport Italia Rally Argentina update

‘Hello everyone, it’s Richard ‘Tomo’ Thompson here, the Motorsport Italia team engineer, writing to you before SSS1 of Rally Argentina kicks off later this afternoon.

‘After the Qualifying Stage this morning, Michał selected to start third on the road tomorrow. This isn’t an easy position, because there is the risk of road sweeping, but equally it might be to his advantage on the first loop to be on the stages before the roads are too worn.

‘Being a rally engineer it’s our responsibility to help the crews work out the best possible set-up for the stages. When possible, we inspect the route at the same time the crews write their pace notes. This helps us with tyre choice and set-up options.

Motorsport Italia Rally Argentina preview

‘Hello everyone, Bruno here, writing from Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina.

‘It’s full speed ahead for rally preparation because the event’s itinerary has changed this year to start on Wednesday and finish Saturday. The rally is over 400 kilometres this year and kicks off with a Super Special Stage here in the town on Wednesday night, before the first full stage Thursday morning. I think Saturday’ll be a tough day with 77.92 kilometres of rough Special Stages in total, but it ends on a high with the famous El Condor test as this year’s PowerStage.

Hola Argentina!

- Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena return to WRC competition for Rally Argentina
- Loeb has won Rally Argentina for the past seven years
- Hirvonen hopeful of a strong result, as he aims to repeat his impressive 2012 pace at the gravel rally

Rally Argentina, the fifth round of the World Championship, will see the much-anticipated return of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena in the no.1 Citroën DS3 WRC. The nine-time World Champions will line up alongside Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen for the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team. As was the case in Sweden, Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio will be competing in the Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT’s car.

Wales Rally GB moves to North Wales

- New base for the UK’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship
- HQ on Deeside with ceremonies in Conwy and Llandudno

Another podium finish for Mikko Hirvonen

- Hirvonen and Lehtinen finish as runners-up at Rally de Portugal
- Sordo and del Barrio re-joined competition to score valuable points for Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT
- Khalid Al Qassimi finished in a points-paying position for Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT

Third win of the season for Volkswagen’s Ogier

Triumph on the Algarve, two Volkswagen drivers on the podium: Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia (F/F) have won the Rally Portugal ahead of Mikko Hirvonen (Citroën) and their Volkswagen team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN). Under the watchful eye of Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg (Member of the Board of Management for the Volkswagen brand), Andreas Mikkelsen and Mikko Markkula (N/FIN) completed a very good team performance for Volkswagen with sixth place on their competitive debut in the Polo R WRC. “It was great to be present at such a magnificent success,” said Dr. Hackenberg, who is responsible for technical development. “I was very impressed by the manner in which the team earned this success, and how delighted they were by it. It is just fantastic to see how well the entire team is working together. This provides great backing for our drivers, who did an extraordinary job.”