Thierry Neuville snatched the victory in Rally Argentina from Elfyn Evans in the last stage of the race.
M-Sport’s driver had 0.6sec lead before the powerstage. He gave everything but Neuville passed him to win the rally with an advantage of 0.7sec. The finale turned out to be one of the most electrifying in recent memory and brought unforgettable emotions to the spectators.
The result marks the Hyundai’s second win in a row after Tour de Corse, and its fifth WRC victory in total. Not only is it the first time that Hyundai Motorsport has secured back-to-back successes, the Belgian crew of Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul also become the first repeat winners of the 2017 season.
“I cannot believe it”, said the incredulous Thierry Neuville. “I have never had such a nerve-wracking final few minutes of a rally in my career. It’s an amazing result and I have to say thanks first of all to the team for everything they’ve done. Congratulations also to Elfyn, who put up an incredible fight this weekend. I gave it absolutely everything I had in today’s final stages.”
Thierry Neuville: “I have never had such a nerve-wracking final few minutes of a rally in my career”
At the end of the #PowerStage @thierryneuville & @nicolasgilsoul
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…??#WRC #RallyArgentina pic.twitter.com/dLqTLpM9PG— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) 30 April 2017
Evans took the lead from the very beginning of the rally. Repeating issues, including a broken rear diffuser and brake problems on the last day though influenced both his confidence and performance. In the end he had to take second but still made a great impression in everybody during the past three days.
It was a double podium for M-Sport as Ott Tanak took third place. Sebastien Ogier did not succeed in recovering from his difficult Friday and ended up fourth.
Jari-Matti Latvala was fifth, followed by Hayden Paddon and Juho Hanninen. Top 10 was filled by Dani Sordo, Mads Ostberg and Pontus Tidemand, who triumphed in WRC2.
Final Unofficial Classification @rallyargentina #WRC #HyundaiWRC pic.twitter.com/8I8GPtyiD5
— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) 30 April 2017
