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Winning the weekend's three day Rally of Argentina for the fourth consecutive time, Frenchman Sébastien Loeb also took the overall championship lead.
The fourth of fifteen World Rally Championship rounds in the 2008 season became a battle of survival. The rough roads used in the first Southern Hemisphere event claimed multiple victims, including former championship leader Mikko Hirvonen (Ford).
His 39th WRC win, Loeb said the victory was a concerted team effort.
"Given the delicate conditions, we had to stay doubly concentrated from start to finish. We also benefited from a faultless performance from our Citroën C4 which was once again competitive and reliable. Before coming here, we had been hoping that Rally Argentina would enable us to take the lead in the drivers' championship and score points for Citroën, and that's what we've done!" said the defending world champion.
Finishing second, matching his previous career best and claiming his third podium position for the season, Subaru's Chris Atkinson spent a long event duelling with team-mate Petter Solberg, but Solberg was forced to retire on the final day with electrical failure. This left the second Citroen pairing of Dani Sordo and co-driver Marc Marti to move into third place.
With dry summer weather changing the day's forecast before the rally started, autumn rain around the mountains and plains of host city Carlos Paz created muddy conditions, deep river crossings and patches of thick fog. Along with the cooler temperatures and reduced visibility, lack of tyre grip added to the challenges drivers faced during the 347.9km of 21 competitive stages.
Revelling in the challenge, Ford's Mikko Hirvonen carved out a massive 50 second lead early in the opening stages. However his lead was cut short when he hit a large rock in the afternoon's repeat run of stages and damaged the steering of his Ford Focus, retiring for the day. Passing the stricken Ford, Citroën's Loeb took the helm knowing his championship defence chances had improved. As the roads became softer, rocks not previously exposed during reconnaissance began to show, inflicting damage to most of the field at one time or another.
With an estimated 1.5 million spectators following the rally, the action moved through landscapes varying from sandy plains to lunar style rocky mountains.
Rally Argentina is also a round of the Production World Rally Championship, where the lead is now tied between Finns Juho Hanninen and Jari Ketomaa.
Loeb has moved to a five point lead in the standings, with Hirvonen's second place is three points clear of Australian Chris Atkinson.
Returning to the Northern Hemisphere, the WRC's fifth round is a new event for the championship - Rally of Jordan (24-27 April). The WRC next returns to the Southern Hemisphere for Rally New Zealand in late August.
Results: Rally Argentina 2008 (top-ten overall)
1. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 4hr 05min 48.6sec
2. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza +2m 33.2s
3. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 +4m 04.7s
4. C Rautenbach/D Senior ZIM Citroen C4 +20m 03.5s
5. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS +25m 15.3s
6. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS +27m 42.0s
7. G Galli/G Bernacchini ITA Ford Focus RS +27m 51.8s
8. A Aigner/K Wicha GER Mitsubishi Lancer +28m 59.3s
9. S Beltran/R Rojas ARG Mitsubishi Lancer +30m 04.9s
10 J Ketomaa/M Teiskonen FIN Subaru Impreza +31m 52.6s
2008 World Rally Championship for Drivers - after four rounds
1. S Loeb (Citroen) 30pts
2. M Hirvonen (Ford) 25pts
3. C Atkinson (Subaru) 22pts
4. J-M Latvala (Ford) 16pts
5. G Galli (Ford) 11pts
6. D Sordo (Citroen) 9pts
2008 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers - after four rounds
1. BP Ford Abu Dhabi 44pts
2. Citroen Total 41pts
3. Subaru 33pts
4. Stobart VK M-Sport 22pts
5. Munchi's Ford 10pts
6. Suzuki 6pts
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