Tanak edges ahead from Meeke

Click here for Top 15 classification after SS8 from Rally Argentina

Ott Tanak has stepped up his charge at Rally Argentina and pulled out over 20 seconds on nearest challenger Kris Meeke.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver took the lead from Andreas Mikkelsen at the end off SS5 at the end of Friday morning’s action before laying down his pace advantage to stretch ahead in the afternoon.

At the end of SS8 Tanak’s lead stands at 22.7s from Citroen’s Meeke who jumped up to second place while Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville has jumped up to third at the end of Friday’s final stage ahead of teammate Dani Sordo.

World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Ogier sits in fifth for M-Sport Ford 6.9 seconds off of Sordo with Citroen’s Craig Breen in close contention in sixth place. Mikkelsen dropped down the order after suffering a puncture during SS6 to lose almost a minute on his rivals.

Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi moved ahead of Elfyn Evans for eighth place at the end of SS8 with Evans’s M-Sport Ford’s teammate Teemu Suninen completing the top ten.

Jari-Matti Latvala has retired for Toyota after sustaining front suspension damage on SS3 which triggered an engine issue during the afternoon loop.