Cordoba, Argentina – Belgian Thierry Neuville snatched his second consecutive rally victory for Hyundai in Argentina on Sunday with a last-gasp burst of speed that denied Britain's Elfyn Evans a first win by a fraction of a second.
Evans, who had led from the second stage in his Ford Fiesta, suffered brake problems early in the day and missed out by 0.7s, with Estonian Ott Tanak third in another Fiesta.
Neuville, who won in Corsica on 9 April started the final El Condor power stage 0.6s adrift of Evans but won it to take overall victory and five bonus points.
The rally is based in Villa Carlos Paz, near Cordoba and 700km to the north-west of Buenos Aires.
Reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier of France, who finished fourth, continues to lead the standings with 102 points after five rounds, ahead of Finnish rival Jari-Matti Latvala on 86 and Neuville on 84.
The next rally is in Portugal from 18-21 May.
Results
1 Thierry Neuville (Belgium) Hyundai – 3:38:10.6
2. Elfyn Evans (Britain) Ford +0.7s
3 Ott Tanak (Estonia) Ford +29.9 4 Sebastien Ogier (France) Ford +1:24.7
5 Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Toyota +1:48.1
6 Hayden Paddon (New Zealand) Hyundai +7:42.7
7 Juho Haenninen (Finland) Toyota +11:16.9
8 Daniel Sordo (Spain) Hyundai +14:44.1
9 Mads Ostberg (Norway) Ford +15:11.3
10 Pontus Tidemand (Sweden) Skoda +17:32.1
Driver Standings
1 Sebastien Ogier (France) Ford – 102
2 Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Toyota -86
3 Thierry Neuville (Belgium) Hyundai – 84
4 Ott Tanak (Estonia) – 66
5 Daniel Sordo (Spain) Hyundai – 51
6 Elfyn Evans (Britain) Ford – 42
7 Craig Breen (Ireland) Citroen – 33
8 Hayden Paddon (New Zealand) Hyundai – 33
9 Kris Meeke (Britain) Citroen – 27
10 Juho Haenninen (Finland) Toyota – 15
11 Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) Skoda – 12
12 Stephane Lefebvre (France) Citroen – 10
13 Teemu Suninen (Finland) Ford – 5
14. Jan Kopecky (Czech Republic) Skoda – 4
15 Pontus Tidemand (Sweden) Skoda – 4
16 Mads Ostberg (Norway) Ford – 2
17 Stephane Sarrazin (France) Sarrazin – 2
18 Bryan Bouffier (France) Gemini – 1
19 Yohan Rossel (France) Rossel – 1