Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina
Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT duo of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle ended the day second overall on first day of Rally Argentina on Friday, which keeps them in contention for a final podium spot.
The team of Craig Breen and Scott Martin lie sixth while Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi and Chris Patterson completed the day in 15th place, thus meeting their target, which was to amass experience with the C3 WRC.
Held on roads around Santa Rosa de Calamuchita to the south of Villa Carlos Paz, this first full day of racing was a daunting challenge for the drivers. This was due to its length, obviously – covering more than 43 per cent of the total competitive distance – and the high temperatures too, but above all, this was due to the nature of the stages contested. Extremely quick and littered with embedded rocks, the stages promised to provide the cars with a very serious examination of their reliability, as they took quite a battering from the roads.
In these demanding conditions, the C3 WRCs displayed all of their qualities: after having been hampered by hanging dust on the opening stage and then had difficulties finding the right pace on the next test (SS3), Meeke finished the morning loop in style. With two consecutive second fastest times, he made it to midday service in third place. He picked up where had left off in the afternoon, with another second fastest time on the first stage after lunch, enabling to move up into second overall, and end this opening leg 22.7 seconds behind the leader, despite a puncture on the day’s final stage.
Breen was not to be left out: set back by a 10-second penalty for arriving late at the time control on Friday evening, he gradually made up the time, notably grabbing the third fastest time on the morning loop’s longest stage (33.58km) and setting several top-five times, despite his limited knowledge of the stages. Third fastest again on the day’s final stage, he ended the leg sixth overall, just 4.8 seconds behind the driver ahead. It has been a remarkable performance so far for the Irishman after his appearance here was cut short last year.
Al Qasimi said later: ”With the fog we experienced in recce, my pace notes weren’t perfect but we made it to the end of this leg whilst making steady progress. Although the first loop was difficult, I felt more confident on the afternoon loop — thanks to the adjustments to my C3 WRC’ set-up by the technical team.”
