Sebastien Loeb posted fastest time at this morning's qualifying session for Rally Argentina, and the Citroen driver will now have first choice on where he wants to run on the road tomorrow. Loeb's time of 2m36.369s for the 2.85-mile stage was 0.759sec faster than his nearest rival, teammate Mikko Hirvonen.
While the French firm enjoyed one-two status from the stage, it was Spain's Dani Sordo who stole the limelight, posting the fastest time of any of the Ford Fiesta RS WRCs.
Sordo, making his debut with the Ford team in Argentina this week, was 1.6sec down on Loeb's benchmark and almost two seconds clear of factory Ford teammate Petter Solberg. Solberg only completed one of his two free practice runs after a problem with the power steering on his car.
Thierry Neuville (Citroen DS3 WRC) was fifth quickest on his first time at this event, while Rally of Portugal winner Mads Ostberg was sixth.
Former F1 racer Eliseo Salazar passed his first test in a World Rally Car, albeit slowest of the qualifiers in his Mini John Cooper WRC. Salazar was 24 seconds slower through the stage.
The conditions were wet for qualifying, with temperatures hovering around 50 degrees on the gravel roads just outside Villa Carlos Paz.
Highlights of the rally will air on SPEED late Sunday night, as the WRC returns to American TV for the first time this year.