Solberg and Latvala suffer shakedown delay

Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg have both suffered early setbacks in their bids to win Rally Argentina, round six of the World Rally Championship.

Latvala was tackling the 6.23-kilometre Carlos Paz-Cabalango shakedown stage for the second time when his Ford Fiesta RS WRC suffered a transmission-related failure. Solberg’s Citroen DS3 was hit by a broken front-right driveshaft on his second pass.

Solberg’s car has been repaired and the Norwegian has left the service park to return to the practice stage. Latvala’s car has been returned to the service park on a trailer provided by the rally organisers where Ford engineers will identify the cause of the problem and begin repairs.

Latvala explained: “I went a few metres forward and lost the drive. I thought it was driveshaft, I kept going slowly to the end of the shakedown road, then came on the road section. I was a bit worried what is wrong with the car so I stopped there. It’s on the transmission side but I don’t know exactly what is the problem. Yes, it’s a bit frustrating at first, we have done so many shakedowns and don’t usually get any problems. But it’s better to have problems now than during the rally.”

Solberg said: “The first run was good but on the second we broke the driveshaft. But it will be okay, I’m confident for this rally.”

Shakedown is being held in bright albeit cool conditions.