With the first day in Argentina finished, Petter is 4th, only 18 seconds behind Dani Sordo who is leading the rally. Mikko Hirvonen is second and Sebastien Loeb is third. Petter is only 2 seconds behind Loeb.

- I’m really happy about today. Being fourth is a good position for tomorrow, and it’s only a couple of seconds behind Loeb. We found the perfect set up for the car this morning, and it was really good.

We lost a few seconds on the two first stages, as were caught in the dust, but took some time back when were fastest on stage 4. Tomorrow will be really exciting, says a smiling Petter tonight.

Day 2 in Argentina is completed, and Petter is 4th overall. Sebastien Loeb is leading the rally with his team colleague Dani Sordo 2nd. Jari Matti Latvala has climbed to third overall, a minute ahead of Petter. Mikko Hirvonen was forced to retire from the rally with engine problems.

"Today was not a very good day. It started with a boost-problem on the morning stages, and then we had a puncture on the first stage after the service and lost about 30 seconds.

On the next two stages the engine was overheated, but we survived that to. And finally I had a big moment on the short stage before the stadium".

200 meters into the stage we just launched off after a crest, and I really thought that was it, but we got through that as well.

It was unbelievable. After that I backed off a bit. I was really hoping to fight for third today, but now I’ve just have to work to keep the fourth.

Day 3 Minutes after taking third on SS19, Petter Solberg lost the place and retired from the rally altogether on the stage which followed.

Solberg’s drive to the final podium spot was derailed 9.5km into SS20 when his Citroen Xsara stopped because of a lack of fuel pressure.

The Norwegian first became aware of the problem at the 3km mark, but had to admit defeat when his car stopped 5km before the finish. Solberg said he was ‘gutted’ to have lost out on the chance of his second podium this season.

“Petter has been driving his heart out this weekend and the podium was there for us,” said team manager Ken Rees. “Petter and [co-driver] Phil tried everything they could to get the car going again, but there is only so much they could do.

To have come such a long way to this event, and then stop like this 20km before the end is a cruel blow.”

Final Leaderboard

1. S Loeb/D Elena (FRA)                         Citroën C4               3h57m40.3s
2. D Sordo/M Marti (ESP)                        Citroën C4               +1m13.1s
3. H Solberg/C Menkerud (NOR)               Ford Focus RS          +4m04.1s
4. F Villagra/J Perez Companc (ARG)        Ford Focus RS         +5m59.7s
5. M Wilson/S Martin (GB)                       Ford Focus RS          +6m10.9s
6. J-M Latvala/M Antilla (FIN)                    Ford Focus RS          +9m50.0s
7. N Al-Attiyah/G Bernacchini (QAT)          Subaru Impreza       +23m11.6s
8. J Marchetto/J Diaz (ARG)                      Mitsubishi Evo XI      +23m34.3s
9. S Ogier/J Ingrassia (FRA)                     Citroën C4               +23m53.9s
10. M Ligato/R Garcia (ARG)                    Mitsubishi Evo X       +25m24.5s