WRC Argentina May 4-6 talk/results

[Weasel 555]

To win on the trails flowing through the sierra above La Cumbre, north of Cordoba, an excellent knowledge of the terrain is required as some areas are often enveloped in a heavy fog, sometimes at altitudes nearing 2,000 meters.

This event has been part of the World Rally Championship since the early 1980's and remains one of the most appreciated by the drivers. Firstly, for its outlay within the mountains which offers magnificent and varied stages. Secondly, for the greetings from the Argentinian fans whom are always warm and enthustiastic.

As is the case with Mexico, Argentina is one of the highest-altitude settings of the season, therefore requiring special preparations for the engines due to their lessened power at such elevations above sea level. The trails, sometimes very hard on the cars, demand robust settings.

Initially competed in July during Argentina's winter, the rally has since been rescheduled for May in order to take advantage of more favorable weather conditions.

The principal characteristics of the Argentinian stages are their high altitude (between 700 and 1,800 meters) and the famous fords ran by at high speed. Certain portions are covered with rolling hills alternating with rocky sections – sometimes with obstacles almost preventing passage. The gravel stages of the South American meet are both sinuous and extremely rapid with frequent traction variations, especially in the mountains near Villa Carlos Paz.

New for 2007, Rally Argentina returns to Buenos Aires as the start will be given from the capital city itself for the first time since 1991. Apart from that modification, the rest of the stages will be taken on the same trails as last year.


www.swrt.com
http://rally.racing-live.com/en/index.html
http://www.crash.net/home~cid~4.htm
www.wrc.com

[Weasel 555]

from crash.net:
Subaru's Petter Solberg will have an extra reason to push on the Rally Argentina this weekend, as the event will mark his 100th WRC appearance with the Banbury-based outfit.

It is an important milestone for the Norwegian - and his co-driver, Phil Mills. The fact they will celebrate it in Argentina is particularly apt, as it has been the scene of some good results for them and while they have yet to win on the Villa Carlos Paz-based event, they have finished in the points six times in the last seven years and were second in 2002 and 2006.

While a win this weekend might be a bit hopeful that won't stop ‘Hollywood' from trying and he has already said he is ‘ready for a good fight' with Sebastien Loeb and Marcus Gronholm, the current pace setters.

[mbs627]

Watersplashes FTW! Woo hoo!

[Weasel 555]

Watersplashes FTW! Woo hoo!

[WRXelent]

(This is where they put the thread!) Petter better worry about staying in front of his brother who is just a few points behind him. I hope the new Impreza can handle the water splashes better than the previous models. It seems like a year since the last rally. GO PETTER!

[perfusionista]

Rally Argentina's schedule is a bit weird: they are opening the event Thursday evening with a Superspecial at the River Plate soccer stadium in Buenos Aires, 435 miles from Villa Carlos Paz where the rally is centered. So the cars are trucked there in the morning and after the Superspecial, they are trucked back. So the Shakedown has had to take place a day early.

From Rally-Live:

The test session took place on a 4.59-kilometer stretch nestled between Villa Garcia and Cabalango. For this occasion, the teams used the service park established about 15 km of the stage used for the Shakedown. The outlay of the trail itself has been described as representative of the rally, with bumps and a gully to drive over.

Sébastien Loeb gave himself full confidence today by accomplishing the fastest time of the Shakedown. The Citroën driver pushed his C4 WRC to a best time of 2'22"9. Right behind the World Champion we find Petter Solberg's Subaru Impreza with a second-quickest time of 2'28"2. Marcus Grönholm's run brought his Ford Focus WRC into third, covering the five-kilometer trail in 2'29"1. At the wheel of the second official Citroën C4, Dani Sordo followed with a time of 2'29"3. Closing up the top five fastest drivers was Henning Solberg, who led his Stobart Team Ford Focus across the line in 2'30"0.

It looks as if Seb has a lead of over five seconds just on this short try-out. However the Rally Argentina official site is reporting his time as 2'27"9, which only makes a gap of 0.3! There is hope...

[perfusionista]

This morning wrc.com is reporting Loeb's Shakedown time as 2'24"7. Let's hope the timing on the event is not as confused.

Also a reminder: Travis Pastrana is competing in PWRC, where he will be looking to better his 5th place in Mexico. While Mexico winner Mark Higgins won't be there, the field has the addition of 2004 champion Niall McShea and two well-proven locals, Pozzo and Ligato.

[Weasel 555]

River Plate Stadium SS1:

1.Hirvonen- Ford -02'08"3
2.Gronholm- Ford -02'08"9
3.Sordo- C4 -02'09"1
4.Loeb- C4 -02'09"8
5.P.Solberg- Subaru -02'09"8
6.Atkinson- Subaru -02'11"0
7.H.Solberg- Ford -02'11"5
8.Wilson- Ford -02'13"1
9.Stohl- Xsara -02'13"6
10.Perez- Ford -02'15"0

28.Arai- Subaru -02'18"9

31.Pastrana- Subaru -02'19"9

[perfusionista]

Following yesterday's Superspecial in Buenos Aires, the cars were trucked back to Villa Carlos Paz, while the crews boarded planes for the journey. Unfortunately bad weather forced a flight carrying PWRC competitors and some FIA officials to return to BA. As a result, the start of the event has been delayed until 1600 this afternoon. The event will start with SS7, making the day consist of two stages and a Superspecial.

This is a disaster. The fancy idea of bringing the event to the capital has back-fired in the worst way, costing the event almost a quarter of its stages. Considering that the finish is just after midday on Sunday the event is really now only two days long. I don't think this experiment will be repeated.

[SD_GR]

I hope it's not repeated. What the WRC needs least are short events since they favour cars without the best reliability records, and grabasstic, disorganized showboating. There's nothing wrong with basing the event in BA, I think that's actually great. Base the event in BA and have every/all politicians etc. attend the opening ceremonies, make a huge deal out of it. Invite dignitaries and stars and 2 million people. Fantastic. But have a way sorted out to get everyone to SS1 no matter what.

[Weasel 555]

It has been decided to cancel the five morning stages of Rally Argentina due to logistical reasons.

Following last night's Super Special event in Buenos Aires, the team crews were scheduled for an overnight 700-kilometre flight to the Cordoba area for today's stages. Departure was delayed for seven hours as weather conditions did not permit the plane's takeoff.

Consequently, personnel arrived at Cordobo Airport in the early hours of the morning shortly before dawn. For the same reasons, the truck convoy carrying the cars was also delayed and has yet to complete its arrival.

The rally organizers have therefore decided to allow the crews to rest before the competition continues.

Special stages 2 to 6 have been cancelled. Rally Argentina will resume with the Capilla del Monte - San Marcos stage (SS 7) at 16:11 local time (+5 GMT Europe, +4 GMT UK).

Daniel BASTIEN
© CAPSIS International

[perfusionista]

Funny, but only Rally-Live is reporting that the trucks with the cars are delayed. All the other sites just talk about the plane problems. Frankly it makes more sense. If the crews had managed to fly in this morning, there wouldn't have been too much problem running the full program, other than some people being a bit sleep deprived. But without cars...

[perfusionista]

It has just been announced that the rest today's stages are also cancelled. Disaster is becoming an understatement. There is still a possibility that the evening Superspecial will run. Will this be the first WRC event to consist of only Superspecials?

[Weasel 555]

damn the organisers really fudged up a great rally this time !!

i guess they will never host a stage in Buenos Aires again!.

[SD_GR]

It's a shame actually, since they should have BA stages. They should have the government and the prime minister in attendance ideally. Remember Carlito Menem, the PM's son etc.? Getting not just the co-operation, but the full support of the national infrastructure is crucial to promoting the sport, so as many stages around national capitals and with bigshots in the stands for photo-ops as possible are ideal.

OTOH they've been caught with their pants down and are beginning to look like college dorm party organizers, not professional sport officials running an event viewed around the world. I hope they sort it, it's a good rally.