Subaru's Petter Solberg was quickest in the shakedown for Rally Argentina on Thursday morning, the fourth round in the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship.
Petter completed the 4.59 kilometre test stage between Villa Garcia and Cabanlango, located 14.43 kilometres northwest of the service park, in 2 minutes 37.6 seconds. However with torrential rain falling overnight conditions were very wet and the Norwegian was just three tenths up on Sebastien Loeb, who was 'best of the rest' in the new look Red Bull-branded Citroen C4 WRC.
It was a good start for 'Hollywood' and the Subaru WRT - especially as the Banbury-based outfits Impreza WRC2007s only arrived in Carlos Paz late on Wednesday night, having been delayed for 17 hours due to national farmers' protests and road blockades.
BP Ford Abu Dhabi's Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala meanwhile came in third and fourth respectively, according to
www.rallye-magazin.de, with Henning Solberg fifth followed by Gigi Galli and Chris Atkinson.
The Rally Argentina now gets underway on Friday, with 150.86 competitive kilometres on the bill. SS1, the 18.70 kilometre-run through La Cumbre-Agua de Oro 1 starts at 07.45 hours local time.
Leading shakedown times:1.
Petter Solberg Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2007
2mins 37.6secs M
2.
Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC
2mins 37.9secs M
3.
Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Focus RS WRC 07
2mins 38.8secs M
4.
Jari-Matti Latvala BP Ford Focus RS WRC 07
2mins 39.6secs M
5.
Henning Solberg Stobart Ford Focus WRC 07
2mins 40.7secs M
6.
Gigi Galli Stobart Ford Focus WRC 07
2mins 40.9secs M
7.
Chris Atkinson Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2007
2mins 42.6secs M
8.
Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford Focus WRC 07
2mins 44.7secs M
9.
Matthew Wilson Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC 07
2mins 45.6secs A8
10.
Toni Gardemeister Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC
2mins 46.1secs M
11.
Luis-Perez Companc Munchi's Ford Focus WRC 07
2mins 46.3secs M
12.
Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC
2mins 47.1secs M
13.
P-G Andersson Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC
2mins 49.5secs M
14.
Conrad Rautenbach Citroen C4 WRC
2mins 55.6secs A8
all times unofficial - courtesy of www.rallye-magazin.de
