As the sun scorched Argentinian roads crews left the Parc Ferme to make the 230 km treat to the town of Merlo for the first stage of Xion Rally Argentina, round four of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship.
Two laps of the 1.34 km street super special stage is what was in store for competitors and it was championship leader, Sebastien Ogier, that set the bench mark.
The Frenchman set a time of 2:32.0 which put him at the top of the time sheets just 0.1 seconds ahead of Kris Meeke.
“Its the start of a long weekend with tough stages we have a long way to go.” said the Frenchman after the test.
Kris Meeke set a time exactly the same as Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen to the nearest tenth of a second with last year’s winner Jari-Matti Latvala fourth fastest 0.3 seconds off the lead. Dani Sordo was fifth fastest.
In WRC2 Nicolas Fuchs experienced water pump problems en route to SS1 and reported high engine temperatures throughout the stage.
Fridays action will comprise of five stages with over 150 km of competitive stage miles kicking off with SS2 “Agua de Oro – Ascochinga.”
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