Loeb dances on water in Argentina

Sébastien Loeb retained his place at the top of the FIA World Rally Championship table after a hard-fought victory in his Citroën C4 on Rally Argentina over the weekend.

Fog and torrential rain on Friday forced organisers to cancel all the rally stages apart from the Cordoba Super Special that took place in the evening. Even so, Loeb was still able to set the fastest time in ten of the sixteen stages over the weekend.

To the delight of some of the most enthusiastic rally spectators in the world, the Frenchman danced and skated his way to Citroën’s fourth successive victory on the South American rally. He said afterwards: “I am obviously delighted to have notched up another win with the Citroën C4 on what was yet another very different type of event. The C4 ran like clockwork on all the different types of road we faced.” On extending his lead over Championship rival, Marcus Grönholm, Loeb remarked: “It's very close and the battle promises to be just as fierce in Sardinia…"

The second Citroën C4 piloted by Dani Sordo managed to finish in sixth place despite hydraulic problems on Saturday afternoon.

"With just two days' worth of stages to cover, this year's Rally Argentina ended up being a true sprint event, so even the smallest error was out of the question," commented Citroën Sport Director Guy Fréquelin after the finish. "The cancellation of seven of Friday's eight scheduled stages turned the weekend into a two-set match which Sébastien ended up winning. Everything went perfectly for them”.

Argentina was the C4’s third consecutive win and has now notched up victories on four of the opening six rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship.