Kris Meeke was the surprise leader of XION Rally Argentina after Friday morning’s gruelling opening stage which caused carnage among the frontrunners.
He was fastest in Citroën’s DS 3 by 31.9sec from Dani Sordo’s Hyundai i20, with Jari-Matti Latvala completing the top three a further 1.9sec behind in a Volkswagen Polo R.
The stage lived up to forecasts that it would be a car-breaker and the biggest name to suffer was championship leader Sébastien Ogier who parked his Polo R after 45km with suspected engine problems.
Neither Meeke nor Sordo escaped unscathed. Meeke drove the entire test with a broken handbrake while Sordo lost time towards the finish when his power steering broke.
“It was difficult in the hairpins and in the last 10km I couldn’t see for the dust. I took it carefully and was idling into corners,” said Meeke.
Mads Østberg was fourth, 43.0sec off the lead, despite stopping mid-stage with an engine issue. “Four rallies, four problems. Not good,” said the dejected Norwegian.
Fellow countryman Andreas Mikkelsen dropped two minutes after spinning his Polo R in a fast right corner and puncturing the front right wheel. The rear took a big hit in the spin and Mikkelsen was worried about possible suspension damage.
Thierry Neuville punctured the left rear tyre on his i20 after hitting a stone over a crest. He dropped four minutes after a difficult change.
Elfyn Evans lost time after being slowed by Neuville’s dust when the Belgian rejoined, while Hayden Paddon finished with broken engine mounts, a suspected broken driveshaft and a holed turbo pipe. And the Kiwi was still fifth quickest!
Lorenzo Bertelli stopped his Fiesta RS before the midpoint.
Overall Classification after Day One
K. Meeke / P. Nagle (Citroën DS3 WRC) 1:44:47.8
M. Østberg / J. Andersson (Citroën DS3 WRC) +1:08.4
J.M Latvala / M. Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) +1:23.5
D. Sordo / M. Martí (Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:54.2
E. Evans / D. Barritt (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:59.7
M. Prokop / J. Tomanek (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +3:27.4
T. Neuville / N. Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +5:06.2
K. Al Qassimi / C. Patterson (Citroën DS3 WRC) +6:01.8
A. Al-Kuwari / M. Clarke (Ford Fiesta RRC) +6:46.3
Y. Protasov / P. Cherepin (Ford Fiesta RRC) +8:43.3
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