Kris Meeke registers his first Rally Argentina win

Kris Meeke beat Mads Ostberg by 18 seconds

Buenos Aires, April 27 (IANS): Northern Irish driver Kris Meeke in his Citroen won his maiden Rally Argentina, the fourth round in the World Rally Championship (WRC) season.

Meeke won in three hours, 41 minutes and 44 seconds, just 18 seconds above his team partner, Norwegian Mads Ostberg while Welsh Elfyn Evans (Ford Fiesta) ended third on Sunday, reports Xinhua.

Meeke snapped the streak of French driver Sebastien Ogier (Volkswagen Polo), current two-time WRC champion and five-time winner of Rally Argentina.

Ogier, who had won the previous three rounds of WRC in Monte Carlo, Sweden and Mexico, lost the opportunity to win here after he quit the race on Friday due to an engine problem. He returned on Saturday but finished ninth. Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen Polo) also quit the race on Friday.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Finnish Jari-Matti Latvala had to leave the race when he was third due to a problem with his VW Polo.

On Friday, Meeke, 35, became the leader and remained there until the end.

Czech driver Martin Prokop (Ford Fiesta) finished fourth, followed by Spanish Dani Sordo (Hyundai) and Saudi Khalid Al Qassimi (Citroen).

On Sunday, the two stages run in Cordoba province (El Condor-Copina and PowerStage-Condor) were won by Mikkelsen and Ogier.

After four rounds, Ogier remains leader of WRC with 84 points, followed by Ostberg (51), Mikkelsen (47), Evans (41) and Meeke (35).

The next round will be held in Portugal on May 21.