WRC
Citroen Rally Argentina Event Summary
Cordoba-Villa Carlos Paz
Edited: May 30, 2011, 12:36 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Citroën scores its seventh consecutive victory in Argentina!
Rally Argentina was marked by several twists and finally Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena came out on top for the sixth time on the bounce! The seven-time world champions took the lead in the last stage after having made up the one-minute penalty they received on the first day. Despite a roll in the longest stage of the event, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia finished on the third step of the podium. Citroën continued the series of wins in South America, which began in 2004.
The last day’s programme of Rally Argentina was an atypical one with a stage of over 48 kilometers to be tackled as the sun rose. The crews had been up since 5h00 in the morning and they had a quick stop in the Villa Carlos Paz service park before battle began. They then set off for Ascochinga for the longest stage since the start of the season!
A stupid mistake, all we had to do was to drive on to victory.
Sebastien Ogier
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, first out on the road; made a cautious start to nurse their 43.7s lead. In the final kilometer of the stage their Citroën DS3 WRC rolled onto its roof! ”A stupid mistake,” admitted Ogier at the finish. “All we had to do was to drive on to victory. I had noted an apex to be taken in a corner, and it ended in a roll. We were able to restart but the car was damaged. In addition to the superficial damage, we no longer had power steering. The windscreen was broken and we lost our rear wing.”
Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena in third place quickly realized that the nature of the terrain wouldn’t allow them to get the better of Mikko Hirvonen: “There was fog and it was very damp. In these conditions there’s no sweeping. Our first split times weren’t great. We had to go pedal to the metal to overtake.” The winner of the last five Rally Argentinas managed to snatch second place in the overall classification at the very end of the timed sector.
In the last three stages – some ten kilometers - Ogier tried to defend his position. Before the start of the Power Stage, he was only 3.3s in front of Loeb and 5.7s in front of Hirvonen: “It was really tough. In the last stage I felt that I wouldn’t be able to hold the wheel. Without power steering the car became incredibly heavy. We were totally unable to fight our corner,” summed up Sébastien.
Podium: winners Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena
Photo by: Citroën Communication
While Loeb and Hirvonen took advantage of Ogier’s problems to overtake the Frenchman, he saved the points for third place: “It’s a lesser evil for the team. We haven’t lost too many points in the manufacturers’ classification. On the other hand, it’s not a great result for the drivers’ title chase. I’m really very disappointed.”
Loeb was in attack mode right till the very end and took over the lead from his team-mate. At the flag he was 2.4s in front of Hirvonen: “After Friday’s penalty I wasn’t counting on this victory. We pushed really hard to get back in contact with the front-runners and to beat Hirvonen. Once again the outcome was decided by a hair’s breadth. It seems that Rally Argentina is my happy hunting ground!”
Loeb congratulated his team-mate, and insisted on the fact that: “I understand what he must be feeling. I’ve had similar misadventures. It’s frustrating and disappointing but these mistakes can happen. Still he managed to bring the car home to the finish, and that’s very important for the team.”
-source: citroen -source: citroen
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Stobart M-Sport Rally Argentina Event Summary
Next article Citroen Racing Technologies Rally Agentina Event Summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Sébastien Ogier
Sebastien Ogier’s 2027 WRC future is undecided, but he won’t be at Monte Carlo
WRC
WRC
Rally Italy
Sebastien Ogier’s 2027 WRC future is undecided, but he won’t be at Monte Carlo
New WRC champion Elfyn Evans relieved after “surreal” Sardinia title showdown
WRC
WRC
Rally Italy
New WRC champion Elfyn Evans relieved after “surreal” Sardinia title showdown
More from
Citroën World Rally Team
Citroen reveals new-look 2025 WRC line-up
WRC
WRC
Rally Monte Carlo
Citroen reveals new-look 2025 WRC line-up
Ostberg gets full WRC2 season with Citroen
WRC
WRC
Ostberg gets full WRC2 season with Citroen
Citroen open to making WRC car available to privateers
WRC
WRC
Citroen open to making WRC car available to privateers
Latest news
Manthey acknowledges IMSA to be "tougher than expected" despite two wins
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 8 h
Manthey acknowledges IMSA to be "tougher than expected" despite two wins
How a philosophy shift brought BMW to new heights in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 8 h
How a philosophy shift brought BMW to new heights in 2026
Fred Vasseur reveals two costly moments that denied Ferrari US GP double podium
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
8 h
Fred Vasseur reveals two costly moments that denied Ferrari US GP double podium
Cleetus McFarland set to compete full-time for 2027 ARCA championship
ARCA
ARCA ARCA 9 h
Cleetus McFarland set to compete full-time for 2027 ARCA championship
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe