Stage 15 in Argentina - notes, quotes and standings 28.04.2018: WRC Rallyes - Argentina Rally Saturday, April 28th 2018 1. EST O. TÄNAK 2. BEL T. NEUVILLE +46

WRC Rallyes - Argentina Rally
Saturday, April 28th 2018
     


1.     EST O. TÄNAK    
2.     BEL T. NEUVILLE     +46.5
3.     ESP D. SORDO     +1:08.2
4.     FRA S. OGIER     +1:59.0
5.     NOR A. MIKKELSEN     +2:13.8
6.     FIN E. LAPPI     +2:42.9
7.     GBR E. EVANS     +2:49.1
8.     GBR K. MEEKE     +3:20.4
9.     FIN T. SUNINEN     +4:17.6
10.     FIN K. ROVANPERÄ     +10:50.2
11.     SWE P. TIDEMAND     +11:13.4
12.     GBR G. GREENSMITH     +13:17.9
13.     NOR O. VEIBY     +13:39.5
14.     ARE K. AL QASSIMI     +17:17.2
15.     ARG A. CANCIO     +18:13.5
16.     CHL P. HELLER     +18:26.4
17.     PRY D. DOMINGUEZ S.     +23:49.0
18.     CHL C. VIDAURRE     +26:12.3
19.     PRY G. SABA     +31:16.0
20.     ESP N. SOLANS BALDO     +47:09.3
21.     ARG S. BIONDI     +1:33:20.2


Sat 15:35 - SS15: Rovanperä

He doesn't win this stage, 2.8sec slower than his fellow Skoda driver. "We are going quite well, but we have to really push because Pontus is doing well. I just played it safe, I didn't want to get a puncture. It's going to be interesting tomorrow."



Sat 15:32 - SS15: Tidemand

Tidemand completes the stage now, he's quicker on the splits than his team-mate, could this be his first WRC 2 class win of the day? " We just follow the team strategy, we just want to get to the finish without problems. His pace is surprising but you can't tell real pace for everyone because people can be looking after the cars on these rough stages."




Sat 15:30 - WRC standings after SS15

Meeke drops to eighth after his dramas on SS15. 1. Tänak 2h 58. 33.9s 2. Neuville +46.5s 3. Sordo +1m 08.2s 4. Ogier +1m 59.0s 5. Mikkelsen +2m13.8s 6. Lappi +2m42.9s 7. Evans +2m 49.1s 8. Meeke +3m20.4s



Sat 15:28 - SS15: Tänak

Ott's right behind Meeke: "Not so good on this one, it was quite hard, it looks the front-right damper oil has gone. We've also lost power steering for sections of that stage as well." He's 7.4sec down across the line.



Sat 15:27 - SS15: Meeke

He finishes now, 2m 28.4sec slower than Sordo. "Had to stop and change a puncture, there was a stone in the middle of the road and I couldn't avoid it, went over it and got a puncture straight away."



Sat 15:23 - SS15: Meeke

Meeke's more than two minutes down on the splits after he had to change a tyre, he's running not too far ahead of rally leader Ott Tänak after his delay



Sat 15:22 - SS15: Neuville

The third Hyundai comes through now - he's 7.4sec down on Sordo. "I was managing the tyres too much as I didn't want to get a puncture."




Sat 15:19 - SS15: Sordo

Speaking of the Spaniard he's on a flying run this time through, he was 5sec up at the final split and Carlos Del Barrio is repeating the shouts of 'rapido!' He's through to the end now 6.7sec faster than Lappi. "I had a little bit of a scare with the tyres so I tried my best to be clean and not make any mistakes. I enjoyed the stage."



Sat 15:16 - SS15: Ogier

Ogier completes the stage now, 3.2sec slower than Lappi to finish his day. "I didn't really lose any time on this one, I don't care about the splits to Sordo - he's already one minute ahead!"



Sat 15:14 - SS15: Meeke

Meeke's moving again now, could have been a puncture for him? He did complain about tyres after SS14.




Sat 15:13 - SS15: Mikkelsen

Mikkelsen is through 4.9sec down on Lappi, not too bad for him. "The grip was much better on this pass, I made some changes at service and the rear feels much more stable."




Sat 15:12 - SS15: Tänak

Ott's losing time relative to Lappi on these splits, he's 1.1sec down at the fifth split



Sat 15:11 - SS15: Meeke

We're hearing Meeke has stopped 20.1km into this stage, no reason given as of yet.




Sat 15:10 - SS15: Lappi

Esapekka completes Saturday, 15sec exactly ahead of Elfyn on this stage. "It's always good to gain a position but the end is quite tricky for me as the car was quite nervous on the first pass and it didn't improve much on this one."



Sat 15:08 - SS15: Sordo

Sordo continues to be quick on this one, he's 14.2sec faster than Evans at the seventh split point




Sat 15:07 - SS15: Evans

He's the fastest through the flying finish now, 26.5sec quicker than his M-Sport Ford team-mate. "I struggled a lot on the last two tests but here I tried to give it everything I got on that one."




Sat 15:05 - SS15: Suninen

He's relatively happy with that, keeping his cards a bit close to his chest as he finishes 2m 0.5sec faster than Al Qassimi




Sat 15:04 - SS15: AL Qassimi

Khalid looks to have been in a few scrapes, a few alarms going off for him in the car during that stage "We're lucky there's no real damage, 20km in we went into one of those narrow corners and went over the rocks."


 
full results on www.wrc.com   photo Toyota