Argentina Rally Stage 7 news, quotes and standings 27.04.2018: ARGENTINA RALLY- ss7 Friday, April 27th 2018 1. EST O. TÄNAK 2. GBR K. MEEKE +16.8 3. ESP D. SORDO +25.9 4. BEL T. NEUVILLE +27.2 5. FRA S. OGIER +27.7

ARGENTINA RALLY-  ss7
Friday, April 27th 2018



1.     EST O. TÄNAK    
2.     GBR K. MEEKE     +16.8
3.     ESP D. SORDO     +25.9
4.     BEL T. NEUVILLE     +27.2
5.     FRA S. OGIER     +27.7
6.     IRL C. BREEN     +38.4
7.     NOR A. MIKKELSEN     +52.3
8.     GBR E. EVANS     +54.9
9.     FIN E. LAPPI     +1:01.8
10.     FIN T. SUNINEN     +1:19.8
11.     SWE P. TIDEMAND     +5:02.2
12.     FIN K. ROVANPERÄ     +5:20.6
13.     NOR O. VEIBY     +5:27.0
14.     GBR G. GREENSMITH     +6:14.2
15.     ARE K. AL QASSIMI     +6:49.6
16.     ARG A. CANCIO     +8:06.0
17.     CHL P. HELLER     +8:24.2
18.     PRY D. DOMINGUEZ S.     +9:42.4
19.     CHL C. VIDAURRE     +11:12.9
20.     PRY G. SABA     +14:49.5


Fri 16:50 - WRC 2 standings after SS7


A number of incidents has shaken things up down the order, with A.Heller and Saba both out 1. Tidemand 1h 22m 05.8s 2. Rovanperä +18.4sec 3. Greensmith +1m 12.0sec 4. P.Heller +3m 22.0sec 5. Dominguez +4m 40.2sec




Fri 16:43 - SS7: Rovanperä

Kalle comes through and he upsets the order - he's a massive 9.3sec faster than Tidemand.



Fri 16:41 - SS7: Solans

Nil Solans the next to set a time on SS7, 1m 01.5sec off the pace.



Fri 16:37 - SS7: Pedro Heller

Heller reaches stop control 56.5sec down on Tidemand, he lost quite a bit of time in the second half of that stage.




Fri 16:34 - SS7: Greensmith

Although he does take a bit out of the Fabia driver, Greensmith crosses the line 16.8sec behind.
That puncture doesn't seem to have cost Tidemand any time, Greensmith is 18.0sec slower through the final split.



Fri 16:32 - SS7: Tidemand

Tidemand is the first WRC 2 car through to the finish, that Skoda is going like clockwork. He lays down a marker of 20m 38.4s despite his bumper hanging on by a thread. "I got a slow puncture on the front-left a few kilometres from the end, it was good before then though."




Fri 16:29 - SS7: Al Qassimi

Sheikh Khalid the only driver so far to fall under the 20 minute marker, he's struggling a bit on these tricky gravel tracks. His time is 1m 38.3sec slower than Tänak.




Fri 16:27 - WRC standings after SS7

1. Tänak 1h 17m 3.6s 2. Meeke +16.8sec 3. Sordo +25.9sec 4. Neuville +27.2sec 5. Ogier +27.7sec 6. Breen +38.4sec 7. Mikkelsen +52.3sec




Fri 16:26 - SS7: Suninen

Oh dear, not a good time for Suninen - 23secs behind Tänak on that test. "Not really where want to be, need to learn from this and be stronger."




Fri 16:23 - SS7: Evans

Elfyn reaches stop control and he's the second slowest through the stage so far - 16.6sec down. Let's see if he gives an explanation for that: "I wouldn't say it was better this afternoon, the time still isn't there. Not sure if I've made the right tyre choice, maybe a mix of hards and softs would have been better."




Fri 16:22 - SS7: Suninen

Suninen is closing in on the end of the stage now, he's more than 20 seconds off the front-running pace though.




Fri 16:20 - SS7: Breen

Breen has completed the penultimate stage of the day fifth fastest 10.3sec down and close to Meeke on that stage. Scott Martin says: "It's really difficult to be a co-driver on these stages, have to anticipate on the bumps and jumps. This afternoon I think it's all down to the tyre changes." Nice insight there from the man in the navigator's seat.




Fri 16:17 - SS7: Sordo

Sordo passes through the flying finish with the second fastest time - 4.1sec off stage winner Tänak. "I really pushed hard on that stage, time is a little bit slower than others but I really enjoyed that stage." He will have enjoyed that - he's up to third overall.




Fri 16:14 - SS7: Lappi

19.4sec behind Tänak, that's the gap when Lappi reaches stop control. Not the greatest: "I've learnt nothing, the tyres won't last on the rims - thats the biggest concern. I can only control it by driving slowly like this."



Fri 16:12 - SS7: Breen

Craig Breen is also well into the stage now and he's 9.5sec off the fastest time so far.



Fri 16:12 - SS7: Lappi

A small shake of the head from Lappi? He's 18.1sec slower than his team-mate at the split 27.75km into the stage.




Fri 16:11 - SS7: Meeke

He has come through in a decent time, 5.1sec slower to put himself second in the times on SS7. He adds: "No answer to Ott, he should nearly be 40 seconds ahead if it wasn't for his spin. We want to stay in contention and if there is fog tomorrow that blows the whole thing wide open again."




Fri 16:09 - SS7: Meeke

Meeke is powering through the final section of the stage here, at the penultimate split he was 5.5sec off the fastest time so he could set a decent time here.



Fri 16:08 - SS7: Mikkelsen


Andreas reaches stop control and he's put a time 11.8sec away from Tänak on the board. "Yeah it was okay, we were trying to stay away from punctures - if we get another we're...in trouble!"



Fri 16:06 - SS7: Sordo

Dani Sordo is keeping pace to Tänak relatively speaking, he's just 4.1sec slower than the Estonian at the middle split




Fri 16:05 - SS7: Tänak

The Estonian is through now, he's 14sec faster than Ogier! That's huge - he'll be happy with that. "Good stage but really rough, we struggled a bit to keep the wheels on the ground but generally the grip is there." Blimey, how fast could he have been without those minor struggles?



Fri 16:03 - SS7: Lappi

Lappi is losing time on this stage, he's 6.1sec slower than Ogier at the fourth split.




Fri 16:02 - SS7: Neuville

"I do my best, with the tyre choices it is not easy to say which is best - I was sliding quite a but I've been fast." No time for Neuville yet, we'll update when it comes through.




Fri 16:02 - SS7: Neuville

"I do my best, with the tyre choices it is not easy to say which is best - I was sliding quite a but I've been fast." No time for Neuville yet, we'll update when it comes through. Update: he's 5.8sec faster than Ogier across the flying finish.



Fri 16:01 - SS7: Meeke

Meeke's splits are faster than Ogier but he's not able to keep pace with Tänak who is flying at the moment.



Fri 16:00 - SS7: Tänak

Tänak has reached the seventh split and he's 11.2sec faster at this point.




Fri 15:59 - SS7: Ogier

And he's now through in a time of 19m 32.7s. "I think Ott is flying at the moment - I don't think we have a chance! This stage is not too bad in terms of cleaning compared to the last one, let's hope we get a better start position for tomorrow."





Fri 15:56 - SS7: Lappi

Lappi is slow breaking the first timing beam, he's 3.5sec behind Ogier's benchmark




Fri 15:55 - SS7: Tänak

The Yaris must have a rocket engine we don't know about as he's just gone 5sec faster at the fourth split.



Fri 15:53 - SS7: Meeke

Meeke is through the opening split 0.4sec down on Ogier - that's the third fastest time through that timing line.



Fri 15:53 - SS7: Mikkelsen

After his puncture on the last stage, you'd think Mikkelsen would be taking it a touch more carefully but through the second split he's only 0.5sec slower than Ogier - on for a potentially good time at this rate.



Fri 15:51 - SS7: Tänak

He's flying now, 2.6sec faster than the Frenchman through the third of eight splits





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