The Citroën Junior Team gets to the finish in Argentina
The Rally Argentina, the fifth round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, has stayed true to its reputation of being hard on all the cars. The competitors had to battle with the difficult terrain all the way to the finish. While Citroën scored a memorable one-two thanks to Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo, the Citroën Junior Team got to the end thanks to Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia.

Five different stages made up the final day of the Rally Argentina, the shortest day of the rally with 48 competitive kilometres. On Sunday morning the crews set off for the Punilla Valley to the north west of Villa Carlos Paz – just as they had on Friday.

Having started today in ninth place thanks to the SupeRally system, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia had to get to grips with some new stages on the final day, which featured a varied route that combined very quick sections with places that were more twisty.

While some other crews hit problems, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia re-established the pace they had set since the start of the rally to climb up the leaderboard.

With a seventh-fastest time on Villa Giardino – La Falda (SS19), the Equipe de France crew were able to get back into the points, and then they benefited from the retirement of Petter Solberg to climb to seventh in the overall classification by the end of Valle Hermoso – Casa Grande (SS20).

« The team has given us a very well-balanced car, » commented Sébastien. « Everything is perfect this morning. We’re keeping up a good pace. Driving on roads like these is very good for our experience. »

Three third-fastest times in Cosquin – Tanti (SS21), Tanta Nuevo – Villa Garcia (SS22) and Cordoba Stadium (SS23) underlined the performance of the French crew. « It’s been a good day, » added Sébastien. « We’ve set some good times and that’s very encouraging for the future. »

This seventh place allowed Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia to score two points for Citroën Junior Team and two points for themselves in the drivers’ rankings.

« It was another extremely difficult rally, » concluded Citroën Junior Team manager Benoit Nogier. « One of our cars did not make the finish and the other had to resort to SupeRally. But the strong performances of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia on the final day are nonetheless encouraging with three third-fastest times. So we have plenty to look forward to in the coming events. »

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