Al-Attiyah unchallenged in WRC 2 battle

Nasser Al-Attiyah has a huge 5min 31.7sec lead in the WRC 2 category after today’s penultimate leg of Rally Argentina.

The Qatar driver could afford to measure his pace in his Ford Fiesta RRC when second placed Yuriy Protasov, the championship leader, rolled his similar car in this morning’s opening stage and retired.

His demise handed second to Diego Dominguez, the Paraguayan excelling on his WRC 2 debut in a Fiesta R5.

Nicolas Fuchs lies third in another Fiesta RRC, the Peruvian overcoming two punctures to trail Dominguez by 2min 17.3sec. Fuchs has more than four minutes in hand over Gustavo Saba, with Quentin Gilbert and Lorenzo Bertelli completing the top six.

Gilbert suffered a broken front driveshaft on the second stage this morning while Bertelli damaged his car’s cross member after a heavy landing over a jump, before puncturing his front left tyre in the penultimate test.

Further down the order Jari Ketomaa punctured twice this morning and with only one spare onboard, he limped back to lunchtime service. Team-mate Ott Tänak failed to complete the morning after right rear suspension issues.