A. Pinto won three stages and came close to victory in Challenge
Toyota returned to winning ways in Argentina, and did so with a one-two finish, in a world championship round that featured a few surprises. The biggest of them was the accident involving the Portuguese duo João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro, who had led the rally, after a crash with the Dacia driven by Brazil’s Lucas Moraes. Travelling in the opposite direction, Moraes collided head-on with the Toyota of the Portuguese crew. The Brazilian driver admitted his mistake, but it definitively ruined the Portuguese pair’s rally. João Ferreira could have had a very different story to tell at the Desafío Ruta 40 in Argentina, but he still managed to finish the event in 27th place, while helping several rivals during the final two stages.
Victory went to American driver Seth Quintero, behind the wheel of a Toyota Gazoo Racing car, who left another Toyota, driven by Henk Lategan, in second place, 1m35s behind. Dacia’s main drivers had their share of bad luck throughout the event, with the two Dacia Sandriders finishing in the following positions. A puncture in the closing stages took away any chance Nasser Al-Attiyah had of fighting for victory, and he ended the rally in third place on the podium, 2m26s behind the winner. The other Dacia, driven by Sébastien Loeb, finished the Argentine event in fourth place, 3m54s behind Quintero. These were the four dominant teams in the W2RC.
After João Ferreira’s misfortune, another Portuguese driver stood out. Alexandre Pinto won three of the five stages in the Challenge category, finished 11th overall and was just 30 seconds away from 10th place, which was claimed by the category winner, Matthias Walkner. In SSV, victory went to home driver Jeremias Farioli, while in Stock, the win was taken by the legendary Stéphane Peterhansel. After the Argentine event, the W2RC is led by Sébastien Loeb, who holds just a three-point advantage over Nasser Al-Attiyah and 13 over Seth Quintero, the big winner of the Desafío Ruta 40.