Thierry Neuville grabbed his second win of the season and a back-to-back one at that to jump up to third in the WRC championship standings with a close as you like finish in Argetina.
In fact, the result was one of the closest in WRC history, with just seven-tenths of a second splitting Neuville and second-placed Elfyn Evans – only two rounds have been decided by a smaller margin in the sport's 45-year history.
It was heartbreak for Evans who had led almost the entire event until the final speed test when the Welshman clipped a bridge, costing him crucial seconds which handed the win to the Hyundai driver.
The D-MACK backed Evans held a one minute advantage at one stage on Saturday, but things began to unravel in the later stages that day as his lead was cut down to just 11 seconds. Further issues on Sunday, including a brake problem, meant he lost even more time and the pair headed into the final 16.32km test at the famous El Condor separated by just 0.6s.
Evans looked set for a maiden win in Argentina as he opened up a three-second lead, but that was quickly reduced to a deficit after he struck a bridge in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta.
"I'm gutted to lose by such a fine margin after so many issues," said Evans. "I hit a bridge and that was probably the difference. It’s difficult to take now after holding such a big lead, but part of it is my own doing and I need to come back stronger to win in the future."
Neuville would go on to take his second victory and is now just eighteen points shy of championship leader Sébastian Ogier, on 84 points to 102.
Ott Tänak finished third in the second of four Fiesta's, 29.2s behind Evans with Ogier a further 54.8s adrift in fourth place.
Jari-Matti Latvala was Evans’ closest challenger early on but the Finn slipped back to finish fifth in his Toyota Yaris. Broken power steering completed a torrid weekend for Hayden Paddon, who claimed his maiden win in Argentina 12 months ago. He was sixth.
Juho Hänninen, Dani Sordo, Mads Østberg and WRC 2 winner Pontus Tidemand completed the leaderboard.
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