SS6: Hirvonen fastest to cut Loeb’s lead

Mikko Hirvonen has cut Sebastien Loeb’s lead on Philips Rally Argentina - round five of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia - to 0.1s after edging his Citroen team-mate by 1.0s through Friday’s final stage.

“The start of the stage was not good at all but the rest was okay so we will see what happens,” said Hirvonen. “I hope we will have a bit of a fight because Dani [Sordo] is not so far away.”

Sordo, in a factory Ford, was third quickest, 21.0s adrift of Hirvonen, after opting for a hard compound Michelin tyre on the damp stage. “We take the decision in the team,” said Sordo. “We did not have any softs. We pushed hard but we did not do very well.”

Loeb, meanwhile, admitted it hadn’t been an easy stage. “The visibility was coming down and I lost a bit of confidence because it was very slippery in some places, not easy,” he said.

Nasser Al-Attiyah set the fourth fastest time for the Qatari World Rally Team. Mads Ostberg was fifth quickest with Martin Prokop claiming the sixth fastest time in his Autotek Fiesta.

Saturday’s action gets underway with the 20.18-kilometre San Agustin-Santa Rosa run, which is due to go live at 08:30hrs local time.