Rally Argentina: Tanak will carry 46.5-second lead into final day – WRC

Ott Tanak will carry a 46.5-second lead into the final day of Rally Argentina despite a few worries about his Toyota on Saturday’s last stage.

Tanak continued his streak of stage wins on the first two parts of the loop, but was only fourth quickest on the long Cuchilla Nevada stage.

He briefly lost power steering in early miles, and had also shed all the oil from one of his Yaris’s dampers.

Tanak was still able to stay comfortably clear of a podium battle shaken up by drama for Kris Meeke on the same stage.

Meeke tumbled from third to eighth when he had to stop to change a puncture after striking a rock in his Citroen.

That moved stage winner Dani Sordo up to third, 21.7s behind his Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville.

Meeke’s delay was a further blow to Citroen after it had to retire Craig Breen’s car at the midday service having discovered rollcage drama from his morning crash.

World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier is a distant fourth, holding the third Hyundai of Andreas Mikkelsen at bay.

Esapekka Lappi moved past Elfyn Evans into what became sixth place on Cuchilla Nevada as he recovered from his morning mistake.

Kalle Rovanpera continues to lead WRC2 in ninth overall, though Skoda team-mate Pontus Tidemand is closing back in on him. They will start the final day 23.2s apart.

Leading positions after SS15