Thierry Neuville claimed his second consecutive WRC win in Rally Argentina after an incredibly close finish that saw him beat Elfyn Evans by seven tenths.
Evans, first from SS2 onward, saw his lead of over a minute shrink to just 11 seconds during Saturday.
Neuville was only 2.5s faster in the first of the three Sunday stages, in which Evans had brake issues, but the Belgian topped the subsequent SS17 by over eight seconds and was just six tenths behind Evans before the Power Stage.
Evans seemed to respond perfectly in the Power Stage as he was over three seconds quicker after the early splits, but he ended up 1.3s off the Belgian’s pace.
“Gutted to be honest. To lose by such a fine margin after so many issues,” Evans said after the finish.
“I need to learn from it to come back stronger and win these rallies in the future.”
Ott Tanak completed the podium, having doubled his lead over his teammate Sebastien Ogier during Sunday.
Jari-Matti Latvala took fifth, 23.4s behind Ogier.
Hayden Paddon spent the day in a lonely sixth, which he kept even though he only had rear-wheel drive in SS17, and then no power steering in SS18.
Juho Hanninen, whose Toyota had reoccurring technical woes during the rally, was seventh, as Dani Sordo completed his recovery from a Friday crash in eighth.
Mads Ostberg was ninth, ahead of WRC2 winner Pontus Tidemand.
Having also won the Power Stage, Neuville collected 30 points and is third in the standings, 18 and two behind Ogier and Latvala respectively
Thierry Neuville claimed his second consecutive WRC win in Rally Argentina after an incredibly close finish that saw him beat Elfyn Evans by seven tenths. Evans, first from SS2 onward, saw his lead of over a minute shrink to just 11 seconds during Saturday. Neuville was only 2.5s faster in the first of the three Sunday stages, in which Evans had brake issues, but the Belgian topped the subsequent SS17 by over eight seconds and was just six tenths behind Evans before the Power Stage. Evans seemed to respond perfectly in the Power Stage as he was over three seconds quicker after the early splits, but he ended up 1.3s off the Belgian's pace. "Gutted to be honest. To lose by such a fine margin after so many issues," Evans said after the finish. "I need to learn from it to come back stronger and win these rallies in the future." Ott Tanak completed the podium, having doubled his lead over his teammate Sebastien Ogier during Sunday. Jari-Matti Latvala took fifth, 23.4s behind Ogier.
Hayden Paddon spent the day in a lonely sixth, which he kept even though he only had rear-wheel drive in SS17, and then no power steering in SS18. Juho Hanninen, whose Toyota had reoccurring technical woes during the rally, was seventh, as Dani Sordo completed his recovery from a Friday crash in eighth. Mads Ostberg was ninth, ahead of WRC2 winner Pontus Tidemand. Having also won the Power Stage, Neuville collected 30 points and is third in the standings, 18 and two behind Ogier and Latvala respectively
