51 starters included nine Manufacturer entries, 11 Production-WRC teams and three Junior-WRC contenders.

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena (Citroen C4 WRC) have dominated this event since 2005 and this year was no exception. The Frenchman led after the opening Super Special stage in Cordoba Stadium and hovered in the top four while Jari-Matti Latvala, Dani Sordo and Mikko Hirvonen each took turns to lead until stage 12, when Loeb regained the advantage, eventually wining by 1 minute 13.1 seconds.

The reigning WRC Champions have now won the first five events in this year's 12-round WRC calendar and, with a perfect score of 50 maximum points, have increased their Championship lead to 19 points over their team-mates Sordo and Marti and 20 ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen (BP Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Ford Focus WRC), who looked to be in a comfortable third place until their engine overheated in stage 16, forcing them into retirement.

"The temperature gauge rose from normal to 140ºC very quickly and the engine switched into safe mode," explained Mikko. "I finished the stage slowly and thought the radiator was perhaps blocked, but when I stopped to take a look I couldn't find a blockage so I knew it was a bigger problem. I saw there was no water in the cooling system and spoke with my engineer on the telephone. It became clear that nothing could be done and the team told me to retire.”

From SS15, Spaniards Dani Sordo and Marc Marti held second place until the finish in their Citroen C4 to give Citroen a maximum of 18 points in the Manufacturers' Championship and further extend the French car maker's advantage.

Norway’s Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud (Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus) equalled their best previous WRC result by finishing third overall after a relatively trouble-free rally. They now move up to fourth in the WRC standings.

Local hero Federico Villagra finished fourth, to record his best ever WRC finish to the delight of his home crowd. The Munchi’s Ford team driver lives in Villa Carlos Paz and scored his previous best - sixth – on last year's rally.

Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in their BP Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Ford Focus WRC were in a comfortable third place until their car lost fuel pressure after a heavy landing in SS19. It took over eight minutes to re-start the car, by which time they had dropped to seventh overall. They eventually finished sixth.

Norway’s Petter Solberg and Welshman Phil Mills (2005 Citroen Xsara) were on course to take third place until their car ground to a halt 9.5 kms into SS20, also with loss of fuel pressure.

“Petter has been driving his heart out this weekend and the podium was there for us,” said team manager Ken Rees. “Petter and Phil tried everything they could to get the car going again, but there is only so much they could do. To have come such a long way to this event, and then stop like this 20km before the end is a cruel blow.”

Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin (Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus) were hampered by set-up problems on their Focus on Saturday; otherwise the Cumbrian had been optimistic that fourth place was within his grasp.

The Citroen Junior Team fared less well. Conrad Rautenbach and Lancashire’s Daniel Barritt retired from 10th place in SS12. Sébastien Ogier, 2008 Junior World Champion, restarted on Sunday under SupeRally rules to claim ninth after retiring with suspension damage on Saturday.

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Subaru Impreza N14) from Qatar won the Production-WRC category, his first win of the year, and claimed an impressive seventh place overall.

The Junior-WRC category was again won by Poland’s Michal Kosciusko driving a Suzuki Swift. He inherited the lead after SS17 when Alessandro Bettega’s Renault Clio stopped with a broken alternator belt. The Italian re-started on Sunday under SupeRally rules and finished third in J-WRC.

Fastest stage times were recorded as follows; Loeb 11, Jari-Matti Latvala 5, Sordo 3, Hirvonen 2, Petter Solberg and Ogier 1 each.  There were 32 classified finishers.

For news and results from Rally Argentina, the fifth event in the 12-round 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, please visit: www.rallyargentina.com

For all the latest news, video clips, audio, etc, from the FIA World Rally Championship go to www.wrc.com

WRC Manufacturer Team websites:
BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team www.bpfordwrc.com
Citroën Total World Rally Team www.citroen-wrc.com
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team www.stobartmotorsport.com
Munchi's Ford World Rally Team: www.munchis.com.ar

Other WRC websites:
Pirelli - WRC - www.pirellityre.com/web/motorsport/rally/wrc

The next and sixth round of the FIA WRC is the Rally Italy Sardegna 22nd to 24th May. For news, visit www.rallyitaliasardegna.com

Wales Rally GB is the 12th and final round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship and is scheduled to start in Cardiff on Thursday 22nd October.