Hayden Paddon’s Hyundai will lead Rally Argentina into the final day, after Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out on Saturday’s penultimate stage.
Latvala looked set to win his first back-to-back WRC events as he maintained his lead over Paddon through the opening half of the weekend but the 24-mile Los Gigantes-Cantera El Condor stage claimed his Volkswagen and his hopes of victory.
The accident handed Paddon a sizeable lead of 29.8s over Sebastien Ogier going into the final day.
Ogier will have three stages on Sunday to try to close on Paddon and win in Argentina for the first time, while Paddon could win his first World Rally championship event.
Behind the leading two, Andreas Mikkelsen inherited the final podium place and lies 14.5s adrift of Ogier.
The Norwegian continued to hold off the Hyundai of Dani Sordo, who ended the day in fourth.
M-Sport’s Mads Ostberg was a distant fifth, running a solid trouble-free day.
It was far closer behind Ostberg. Home driver Marcos Ligato followed the Norwegian in sixth in an impressive display.
He holds a 4.8s gap over Thierry Neuville, who ended the day tied with Henning Solberg for seventh overall.
Seventh marked an excellent turnaround for Neuville after a challenging first day in Argentina, and he took a best stage finish of third on the first stage of the loop to begin a climb up the order.
Eric Camilli follows Solberg and Neuville in ninth, with Latvala classified 10th in case VW can repair the car for him to rejoin under Rally 2 on Sunday.
In WRC2, Nicholas Fuchs holds the class lead after Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari lost nine minutes following a roll into a field on SS13. Fuchs now leads Hubert Ptaszek by over three minutes.
Elfyn Evans returned under Rally 2 rules after his day one retirement, and won four stages in the six-stage afternoon loop.
Follow the final day battle as it happens with Autosport Race Centre Live from 1pm UK time on Sunday
LEADING POSITIONS AFTER SS15:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hayden Paddon | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai | 2h54m45.6s |
| 2 | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 29.8s |
| 3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | Volkswagen Motorsport II | Volkswagen | 44.3s |
| 4 | Dani Sordo | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 1m02.0s |
| 5 | Mads Ostberg | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 3m46.2s |
| 6 | Marcos Ligato | Citroen | 8m13.1s | |
| 7 | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 8m17.9s |
| 8 | Henning Solberg | Ford | 8m17.9s | |
| 9 | Eric Camilli | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 9m00.3s |
| 10 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 13m39.8s |
