SS2: Latvala flies through Friday’s opener

Jari-Matti has shot into the lead of Rally Argentina after topping the times on Friday’s opening test in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

The Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team ace was 2.5s faster than Petter Solberg through the stage and now leads the Norwegian by 1.9s in the overall standings.

“It was a surprisingly good start,” said Latvala, from Finland. “At the beginning I was a little hesitating because it was slippery at the first corner. But I got good confidence although there was some dust.”

Solberg opted to run used tyres on the front of his Citroen DS3 WRC and could gain an advantage by starting the next two stages with new front tyres, which will provide improved grip and better handling.

Mikko Hirvonen was third quickest in his factory Fiesta and reported losing time on the last three corners due to his pace notes being too slow.

Overnight leader Sebastien Loeb dropped time running first on the road and was 0.2s slower than Citroen team-mate Sebastien Ogier in fifth place. He said: “That was okay, I don’t think I lost so much time at the moment.”

Ken Block reported a minor transmission glitch in his Monster World Rally Team Fiesta. He also admitted to going wide on one corner on his first start in the WRC since Rally Mexico in early March.

Daniel Oliveira limped to the end of the stage with right-rear suspension damage on his Brazil World Rally Team MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

Standings after SS2: