After nine years of absence, the Argentine Rally accelerated again on the roads of the red dirt of Misiones and, after the first stage of six sections, placed Gastón Pasten (Skoda) from Cuyo as partial winner, in a stage with several changes in the top, in addition to abandonments due to overturns and tire punctures. At the beginning, it was Federico Villagra (Citroën) from Córdoba, who seeks to return to victory after more than two years since his last victory in the Pagos del Tuyú.
It was a devastating stage due to the numerous abandonments in the different categories, such as the case of Claudio Menzi (Clio) due to suspension problems, who were joined by Federico Cadamuro, César Folledo and Rodrigo Di Salvo, among others.
When it seemed that Villagra would win the stage, a puncture in the penultimate section, on the right rear, caused him to lose the necessary time to give up the lead to Gastón Pasten (Skoda), who won in 46m07s1/10 and put a lead of eight seconds ahead of Villagra and Nicolás Díaz (Skoda), who also suffered with the tires, was 1m15s2/10. Fourth was Alejandro Menéndez (Skoda), at 2m16s6/10, and fifth was Luis Arceluz (Citroën), from Pampa, at 2m40s9/10.
In the remaining categories, the De La Vega brothers (Citroën) won the partial with 51m32s3/10 over Raúl Montoro (VW), at 56s3/10, and Nadia Cutro (Toyota), at 1m15s5/10. Among the RC4, Santiago’s Pablo Pelaez (Peugeot) dominates, with 56m07s7/10, ahead of Carlos Cataldo and Nahuel Barba. Meanwhile, among the RC5, Guillermo Ambrosio (Ford) won the stage in 56m34s2/10, ahead of Gustavo Vidal, by 1m13s8/10, and Ramón Garro, at 1m54s3/10.
The Misiones Rally will have its epilogue this Sunday with the dispute of the last three stages, in two passes, to complete 70.98 kilometers of a total of 274.66 kilometers.
