The fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship got underway last night with an all-new tarmac super special stage in the city of Cordoba, which was jointly won by Ogier and Dani Sordo. Today, however, the crews headed south to the sandy roads of the Calamuchita Valley for three long stages before returning to the Carlos Paz service via a short super special stage.

Ogier maintained his advantage in the first stage, despite not being entirely comfortable with the set-up on the Polo R WRC, but in the following test Latvala was able to power up the leaderboard from fifth, taking advantage of better road conditions. With this stage win, and one in the following stage, the Finn rounded off a satisfying morning with second in the super special stage. Behind him, Hayden Paddon has enjoyed a great morning, even if the Kiwi driver was disappointed with his performance in the opening stage. He is a handful of seconds adrift of Latvala and fighting to maintain position ahead of third-placed Ogier, all of whom have run without problems.

Andreas Mikkelsen is fourth mid-way through the first day’s competition. The Norwegian struggled with grip in the first stage and sits 13.4 seconds ahead of Sordo who lost time with a small mistake early this morning. He dropped more time with a sticking throttle in the fourth stage but is comfortably ahead of Mads Østberg in the lead Fiesta. WRC returnee Henning Solberg is again delighted to be back behind the wheel and the Norwegian is seventh ahead of Italy’s Lorenzo Bertelli. A highly-cautious Eric Camilli is ninth, the Frenchman under strict instructions to finish the rally after a disastrous start to the season. Argentine Champion Marcos Ligato rounds off the top 10; the local hero, in a DS3 WRC for the first time, was running well until skidding into a bank after a water splash, which resulted in a damaged radiator.

Others have suffered problems too; Ott Tanak was forced out on the road section with a problem with the alternator belt and Thierry Neuville has endured a troubled morning, despite winning the final super special. The Belgian lacked confidence in the first stage, then had problems with the throttle in the second and hit a rock, and in the final long stage he was forced to stop and check connections when the engine kept cutting out. This fuel pressure problem, along with his other woes, see him nearly seven minutes adrift of the lead.

The battle in the FIA WRC 2 Championship has been interesting. Championship leader Elfyn Evans took the early advantage, despite a puncture in the first stage, but the Welshman then retired with an electrical problem. Peruvian Nicolas Fuchs slotted into the lead but he too dropped time with a lack of power steering, his co-driver having to change gears such was the struggle through the rough and twisty stages. In an intense battle, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari now heads the category just 2.5 seconds in front of Didier Arias. Michel Fabre, the sole contender in the FIA WRC 3 Championship category, continues to nurse his DS3 R3T through stages that are super challenging for these smaller two-wheel drive cars.