Hänninen fastest in Argentina shakedown
Kopecky 2nd, Wilks 3rd
Juho Hänninen has set the fastest time during the pre-event shakedown for Rally Argentina.
The Intercontinental Rally Challenge leader registered a best time of 5m16.9s over the 6.23-kilometre course near Cabalango, which is a short drive from the service park in Carlos Paz.
Hänninen’s factory Škoda Motorsport team-mate Jan Kopecký was second quickest with Guy Wilks completing a Škoda Fabia 1-2-3, despite breaking a wishbone colliding with a rock 4.5 kilometres into the stage.
Kris Meeke, the defending IRC champion, was fourth fastest after a fraught shakedown. He was the first to encounter the boulder Wilks struck and the impact left the Peugeot UK driver’s 207 with damaged front-right suspension.
Following repairs, Meeke spent the rest of the session experimenting with alternative damper settings for Sunday’s second leg, when the stage surface is expected to be harder than day one.
Federico Villagra, driving an M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 in competition for the first time, was the leading Argentine driver in fifth overall, one place ahead of fellow IRC newcomer Nasser Al-Attiyah.
The shakedown stage was very representative of the actual special stages being used on the event due to the combination of twisty and fast sections. Although it didn’t rain, overnight thunderstorms coated the stage with water and mud and made some sections treacherous.
Top 10 overall shakedown times
01 Juho Hänninen 5m16.9s
02 Jan Kopecký 5m24.3s
03 Guy Wilks 5m26.5s
04 Kris Meeke 5m28.7s
05 Federico Villagra 5m28.8s
06 Nasser Al-Attiyah 5m32.1s
07 Bruno Magalhaes 5m33.2s
08 Luciano Bernardi 5m35.5s
09 Daniel Oliveira 5m44.3s
10 Geronimo Padilla 5m46.8s