Argentina Rally Stage 2 news, quotes and standings 27.04.2018: ARGENTINA RALLY- SS2 Las Bajadas / Villa del Dique 1, 16.65km. Friday, April 27th 2018

ARGENTINA RALLY-  SS2
Las Bajadas / Villa del Dique 1, 16.65km.
Friday, April 27th 2018




1.     1     FRA S. OGIER     10:50.5        
2.     4     NOR A. MIKKELSEN     10:54.5     +4.0     +4.0
3.     7     FIN J. LATVALA     10:57.3     +2.8     +6.8
4.     5     BEL T. NEUVILLE     10:58.1     +0.8     +7.6
5.     10     GBR K. MEEKE     11:01.6     +3.5     +11.1
6.     9     FIN E. LAPPI     11:05.6     +4.0     +15.1
7.     2     GBR E. EVANS     11:09.5     +3.9     +19.0
8.     3     FIN T. SUNINEN     11:12.0     +2.5     +21.5
9.     8     EST O. TÄNAK     11:14.2     +2.2     +23.7
10.     11     IRL C. BREEN     11:14.2         +23.7
11.     6     ESP D. SORDO     11:15.8     +1.6     +25.3
12.     81     NOR O. VEIBY     11:50.3     +34.5     +59.8
13.     31     SWE P. TIDEMAND     11:54.3     +4.0     +1:03.8
14.     32     GBR G. GREENSMITH     11:58.3     +4.0     +1:07.8
15.     12     ARE K. AL QASSIMI     12:00.6     +2.3     +1:10.1
16.     33     CHL P. HELLER     12:23.5     +22.9     +1:33.0
17.     35     FIN K. ROVANPERÄ     12:26.3     +2.8     +1:35.8
18.     83     ARG A. CANCIO     12:29.9     +3.6     +1:39.4
19.     40     CHL A. HELLER     12:32.4     +2.5     +1:41.9
20.     37     PRY G. SABA     12:38.5     +6.1     +1:48.0


Fri 08:49 - WRC standings after SS2

1. Ogier 10m 50.5s 2. Mikkelsen +4.0sec 3. Latvala +6.8sec 4. Neuville +7.6sec 5. Meeke +11.1sec 6. Lappi +15.1sec 7. Evans +19.0sec



Fri 08:51 - WRC 2

We've got a few more WRC 2 times coming through now, Gus Greensmith slots in to second with Pedro Heller, Nil Solans, and Bulacia slotting in behind for now.




Fri 08:48 - Tidemand

Tidemand is the first of our WRC 2 runners to come through, he's decided to take it steady because of all the low-hanging dust out on stage. A 9m 54.8s for him.



Fri 08:46 - Al Qassimi

Khalid Al Qassimi reaches the end of the stage now, his 9m 59.7s time puts him 1m 04.0s. Co-driver Chris Patterson notes how 'ridiculous' the dust is out on stage. Khalid agrees: "The dust is ridiculous, instead of going sixth gear you have to go second or third because you can't see the angle of the road."




Fri 08:44 - Suninen

The Finn is through in third M-Sport Ford Fiesta. 9m 16.2s is the time allocated to him when he gets to the flying finish. "There was a lot of stones and horrible dust, it cuts the visibility right down." It also looks like the rim on his front-left tyre is damaged as well.



Fri 08:41 - Evans

Elfyn Evans through now - 9m 12.9s for him putting him 17.2secs behind his team-mate. "The dust was really, really bad. It was dodgy in places as well."



Fri 08:39 - Breen

Breen reaches the end of SS2 - 9m 07.7s on the board for him. 12sec off the fastest stage time. He said: "The dust is getting in my eyes, and I've not done this stage before - I've been stupidly slow at points." He looks to be rubbing his eyes quite a bit as he reaches stage end.



Fri 08:38 - Sordo

Sordo through to the stop control now, he's the slowest through so far with a 9m 19.9s.



Fri 08:37 - Latvala

The Finn slots into third provisionally, a 9m 01.3s is 5.6sec slower than Ogier who seems to have set an absolute stormer of a stage time



Fri 08:35 - Sordo

Dani Sordo has dropped 25sec to Ogier at the third split - just after the halfway point of SS2 - clocking a 5m 28.3s could it be a problem for the Hyundai man?



Fri 08:34 - Lappi

Esapekka Lappi comes through in fifth overall, a 9m 09.9s - 14.2sec down on the M-Sport Ford driver at the top of the field



Fri 08:33 - Dusty

Drivers are complaining of hanging dust. The stages are dry and there's not much of a breeze out there at the moment, that's reducing visibility quite a bit for the cars further down the order.



Fri 08:32 - Tänak

Tänak through in a 9m 19.5s - that spin costing him almost 20secs



Fri 08:31 - Mikkelsen & Meeke

Two more times on the board now and Ogier still has the fastest time in his possession - Mikkelsen reaches the finish in 8m 59.6s while Meeke complains of a rear-left puncture as he crosses the line in a 9m 06.5s - 10.9sec down on Ogier



Fri 08:27 - Neuville

The timing system has updated and we have a time for Neuville, 9m 03.7s - 8sec slower than Ogier



Fri 08:26 - Tänak

At the third split - 9.18km into the stage - the Toyota driver is 7secs slower than the championship leader, a 5m 10.3s compared to Ogier's 5m 03.3s. The pictures on All Live show a spin for the Estonian.



Fri 08:22 - Ogier

Ogier is now through to the flying finish in a time of 8m 55.7s, let's wait and see how that compares to the rest of the field



Fri 08:22 - Mikkelsen

Mikkelsen breaks the beam at the first split, he matches Ogier's fastest time.




Fri 08:20 - Tänak

Tänak goes through the first split as well, 1m 43.6 for him



Fri 08:18 - Ogier

Ogier through the first of four splits on this stage, a 1m 42.8s the initial marker


Fri 08:15 - Ogier

Ogier is off into the stage, with Thierry Neuville not too far behind



Fri 08:06 - Tyre choices for today

All the WRC field have taken five soft Michelin tyres



Fri 07:59 - Stage info: SS2


Las Bajadas / Villa del Dique 1, 16.65km. It is seven years since this technically difficult stage last appeared in the schedule. After a fast opening and a big jump, the road becomes more twisty and narrow, demanding maximum concentration. It speeds up again towards the end and the surface is good throughout.




full results, livetiming and more on www.wrc.com    photo M-Sport