MARTIN PROKOP / JAN TOMANEK
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UWE NITTEL / DETLEF RUF
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BERNARDO SOUSA / CARLOS MAGALHAES
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After collecting five of the top eight positions on the Swedish Rally last month, the fastest Mitsubishi drivers in the world cross the Atlantic from Europe to South America for round two of this year’s FIA Production World Rally Championship (PWRC): Rally Argentina, which starts from Cordoba next Thursday evening.
Mitsubishis make up more than one third of the entire entry for Rally Argentina; 15 of the 26 PWRC drivers taking to Argentina’s high-speed dirt roads in Lancer Evolutions. Production round one winner Juho Hanninen (Finland) remains in Europe, however, having elected to pass on this trip south of the equator.
The Production pace on this event is likely to be set by two men in Sweden and whose Rally Argentina outing will be their only PWRC action of the season: the wildcard entries from the Automovil Club Argentino of Marcos Ligato and Sebastian Beltran (both Argentina). While neither driver has won the Group N category in Argentina, both have shown the kind of devastating pace needed to take the top spot in their backyard. Ligato collected a production podium place on his WRC debut in Argentina 10 years ago this season.
The advantage Ligato and Beltran have in Argentina is local knowledge. The Argentine Rally Championship includes rallies which run over the same roads as the World Rally Championship, which means the fans’ favorites should have a much clearer idea of what to expect from the stages at this time of the year.
After electing to miss the opening round of the PWRC in Sweden, Fumio Nutahara (Japan) will be among the pace-setting Mitsubishis in Argentina. Despite being a seasoned Production campaigner - and winner of three PWRC rounds in 2006, Nutahara has not finished in Argentina on his previous two visits. He aims to put that right this time around.
He said: "Argentina is a very difficult rally. The roads are fast, but not always easy. You have to be very careful for the watersplashes. These are very often in the stages and can sometimes be much deeper than you expect. I am looking forward to starting my 2008 PWRC season with Mitsubishi in Argentina."
Mirco Baldacci (San Marino) and Uwe Nittel (Germany) also have a wealth of experience behind them as they aim to secure their first wins of the season. The Red Bull Mitsubishi team of Andreas Aigner (Austria) and Bernardo Sousa (Portugal) will be hoping for a quieter second event, after both cars left the road in Sweden.
One of the biggest question marks on this event lies with the weather. Given that the rally is run in the southern hemisphere, it’s goodbye to a European spring and hello to a South American autumn. And that could mean anything. The organizers of the event are preparing for the kind of fierce rainfall which caused some of the stages to be cancelled due to flooding last season, while at the same time looking out for an Indian summer, which would mean the continuation of recent hot temperatures. Whatever the weather, the competitors starting from the centre of Cordoba on evening of Thursday 27th March will be in for a treat as this country gets behind its biggest motorsport event of the year. Fans will, once again, turn out in their hundreds of thousands to watch the cars take on the legendary stages such as El Condor and Ascochinga.
The fast, sweeping roads of day one, the Punilla Valley, make up 605.59km including 150.86km with 9 stages, north of Villa Carlos Paz, the event’s base. The day two, around Santa Rosa, south of Cordoba, will be the longest leg of 708.72km including 154.38km with 9 stages before the crews who have survived those tough two days rise - literally and metaphorically - to the challenge of the Translasierra stages, west of Villa Carlos Paz, for the day three and final loop of 42.67km competitive action. As a late addition to the itinerary for this year’s event, the crews will also contest a super special stage in the grounds of Cordoba stadium on Friday and Saturday night before moving inside for the final showdown of Rally Argentina on Sunday afternoon. The event finishes in Villa Carlos Paz on Sunday after 1619.45km run.
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1
M |
Sebastien Loeb
Daniel Elena |
F
MC |
CITROEN C4 WRC |
A
8 |
2
M |
Daniel Sordo
Marc Marti |
E
E |
CITROEN C4 WRC |
A
8 |
3
M |
Mikko Hirvonen
Jarmo Lehtinen |
FIN
FIN |
FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 |
A
8 |
4
M |
Jari-Matti Latvala
Miikka Anttila |
FIN
FIN |
FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 |
A
8 |
5
M |
Petter Solberg
Philip Mills |
N
GB |
SUBARU IMPREZA WRC 2006 |
A
8 |
6
M |
Chris Atkinson
Stephane Prevot |
AUS
B |
SUBARU IMPREZA WRC 2006 |
A
8 |
7
M |
Gigi Galli
Giovanni Bernacchini |
I
I |
FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 |
A
8 |
8
M |
Henning Solberg
Cato Menkerud |
N
N |
FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 |
A
8 |
9
M |
Federico Villagra
Jorge Perez Companc |
RA
RA |
FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 |
A
8 |
10
M |
Luis Perez Companc
Jose Volta |
RA
RA |
FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 |
A
8 |
11
M |
Toni Gardenmeister
Tomi Tuominen |
FIN
FIN |
SUZUKI SX4 |
A
8 |
12
M |
Per-Gunnar Andersson
Jonas Andersson |
S
S |
SUZUKI SX4 |
A
8 |
16
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Matthew Wilson
Scott Martin |
GB
GB |
FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 |
A
8 |
17
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Conrad Rautenbach
David Senior |
ZW
GB |
CITROEN C4 WRC |
A
8 |
31
P |
Toshi Arai
Glenn Macneall |
J
AUS |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
32
P |
Mirco Baldacci
Giovanni Agnese |
RSM
I |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
33
P |
Martin Prokop
Jan Tomanek |
CZ
CZ |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
34
P |
Gianluca Linari
Gianni Melani |
I
I |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
35
P |
Evgeny Novikov
Dimitry Chumak |
RUS
RUS |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
37
P |
Spyros Pavlides
Denis Giraudet |
CYP
F |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
38
P |
Amjad Farrah
Nicola Arena |
HKJ
I |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
39
P |
Nasser Al Attiyah
Chris Patterson |
QAT
GB |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
40
P |
Stefano Marrini
Matteo Braga |
I
I |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
41
P |
Andreas Aigner
Klaus Wicha |
A
D |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
42
P |
Bernardo Sousa
Carlos Magalhaes |
P
P |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
44
P |
Gabor Mayer
Robert Tagai |
H
H |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
45
P |
Andrej Jereb
Miran Kacin |
SLO
SLO |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
46
P |
Jari Ketomaa
Miika Teiskonen |
FIN
FIN |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
47
P |
Giorgio Bacco
Silvio Stefanelli |
I
I |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
48
P |
Evgeny Aksakov
Alexander Kornilov |
RUS
RUS |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
49
P |
Simone Campedelli
Danilo Fappani |
I
I |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
51
P |
Subhan Aksa
Hendrik Mboi |
RI
RI |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION VIII |
N
4 |
53
P |
Uwe Nittel
Detlef Ruf |
D
D |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
54
P |
Travis Pastrana
Derek Ringer |
USA
GB |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
55
P |
Patrik Sandell
Emil Axelsson |
S
S |
PEUGEOT 207 |
N
4 |
56
P |
Fumio Nutahara
Daniel Barritt |
J
GB |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
57
P |
Martin Rauam
Silver Kutt |
EE
EE |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
59
P |
Marcos Ligato
Ruben Garcia |
RA
RA |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
60
P |
Sebastian Beltran
Ricardo Rojas |
RA
RA |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
61
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Gabriel Pozzo
Daniel Stillo |
RA
RA |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
62
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Nicolas Madero
Guillermo Piazzano |
RA
RA |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION |
N
4 |
63
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Alejandro Cancio
Santiago Garcia |
RA
RA |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
64
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Claudio Menzi
Edgardo Galindo |
RA
RA |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
65
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Ricardo Trivino
Checo Salom |
MEX
E |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION |
N
4 |
66
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Walter Rodriguez
Laureano Grigera |
RA
RA |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
67
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Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Steve Lancaster |
KSA
GB |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
68
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Ivo Martin
Eduardo Cabera |
RA
RA |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
70
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Gaston Genovese
Gustavo Beccaria |
RA
RA |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
71
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Joan Font
Quevedo Elbio |
E
RA |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION VI |
N
4 |
72
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Rafael Testa
Luis Testa |
BR
BR |
SUBARU IMPREZA |
N
4 |
73
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Hector Acuna
Pedro Costa |
RA
RA |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
74
|
Rodrigo Rodriguez
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RA
|
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX |
N
4 |
75
|
Jose Nicolas
Sergio Perugini |
RA
RA |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION VIII |
N
4 |
76
|
Guillermo Bottazzini
Diego De Luca |
RA
RA |
RENAULT CLIO |
A
6 |
77
|
Manuel Machinea
Enrique Marongiu |
RA
RA |
PEUGEOT 206 RC |
N
3 |
78
|
Roberto Jauregui
Federico Sirch |
RA
RA |
PEUGEOT 206 |
A
6 |
79
|
Jorge Diaz
Eduardo Novelli |
RA
RA |
FIAT PALIO |
A
6 |
80
|
Ulises Morales
Ezequiel Queralt |
RA
RA |
FIAT PALIO |
A
6 |
81
|
Guillermo Clemente
Franco Donalicio |
RA
RA |
FIAT PALIO |
A
6 |
82
|
Luis Perez Lobo
Gustavo Carciotto |
RA
RA |
RENAULT CLIO |
A
6 |
83
|
Miguel Durante
Juan Casajus |
RA
RA |
RENAULT CLIO |
N
3 |
