Tanak in place for Rally Argentina victory, Meeke suffers puncture

Click here for classification results after SS15 from Rally Argentina

Ott Tanak is set to take his first victory of the 2018 World Rally Championship with a commanding lead at Rally Argentina after getting through Saturday’s afternoon loop unscathed.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver held a healthy advantage at the end of the Saturday morning action and marginally added to it with victories on SS13 and SS14 before matching nearest rival Thierry Neuville’s time on the final 40.48km SS15 to see his time lead rest at 46.5 seconds.

With Neuville a sizeable distance behind, the Hyundai driver will look to defend from any late attacks from teammate Dani Sordo who won the lengthy SS15 by over six seconds.

Current World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Ogier sits fourth for M-Sport Ford thanks to a low-key performance with a 14.8s advantage over third Hyundai driver Andreas Mikkelsen in fifth place.

Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi leapfrogged ahead of M-Sport Ford driver Elfyn Evans into sixth place as Citroen's Kris Meeke dropped from a potential podium spot down to eighth place after suffering a puncture on SS15 which required a wheel change.

The Northern Irish driver lost almost three minutes to suffer another cruel blow while a promising finish had been in sight after missing out at Tour de Corse after crashing late on.

Meeke was able to stay ahead of final premier class challenger in the points Teemu Suninen for M-Sport Ford with WRC2 class leader Kalle Rovanpera completing the overall top 10 for Skoda Motorsport.

After rolling on SS11, Citroen’s Craig Breen has been forced to retire with damage to his C3 WRC machine and is not expected to restart the event.