Argentina : P-WRC - SummaryArgentine duo Federico Villagra (Mitsubishi) and co-driver Diego Curletto drove a confident rally to take their first PWRC victory on the third round of the 2007 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship, Rally Argentina. After a tough battle,
Japanese Toshi Arai brought his Subaru home in second only 9.3 seconds adrift of the local ‘Guest Driver', ahead of Finnish driver Juho Hänninen (Mitsubishi) in third. Overall, Arai now takes the lead in the P-WRC standings.
As expected, an impressive start to the rally was made with the opening superspecial stage at the famous River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, demanding a huge logistical challenge transporting both vehicles and personnel across the country. But adverse weather conditions caused problems as drivers and official personal were stranded in the capital city, forcing seven of the special stages on leg one to be cancelled, and once P-WRC crews had returned to Cordoba late that afternoon, the rally restarted with the Cordoba superspecial on Friday night.
While Leszek Kuzaj (POL, Subaru) and Mirco Baldacci (RSM, Subaru) won the first two crowd-pleasers respectively, Finn Kristian Sohlberg really made his mark by winning the first stage proper (SS10) by a huge 14 seconds. He was closely followed by locals Villagra and Gabriel Pozzo (both Mitsubishi), who sandwiched Arai (J). But as local knowledge started to pay off, 2005 P-WRC competitor Villagra stole the show from Sohlberg. A combination of a stalled engine mid-water splash for Pozzo and increased pace for Arai saw the Japanese jump into second, while defending PWRC champion Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT, Subaru), Finn Hänninen and local Marcos Ligato (Mitsubishi) all switched places for third, fourth and fifth. A puncture on SS16 for Villagra allowed Arai to jump into the lead temporarily, only to lose it again to the five-time Argentinean champion Villagra by the end of leg two.
An exciting final day saw Villagra and Arai fight neck and neck with only seconds separating them but local knowledge eventually won the day, the Argentine also easily topping the event's unofficial Sprinter Standings. Their nearest contender Hänninen held position from the penultimate stage on leg two, but the rally was an eventful one for many of the P-WRC contenders behind him, with no less than 10 crews falling by the wayside. In the process, Pozzo held on to fourth, Ligato fifth and Niall McShea behind them in sixth. All had their fair share of problems – Pozzo damaging his air filter, Ligato a broken driveshaft and a puncture and McShea a loose suspension, several punctures and a damaged centre differential. But as with many rough gravel rounds of the WRC, driving with caution and a level head can pay dividends when attrition rates are high, to which the remaining depleted field could testify.
Red Bull-backed Andreas Aigner (Mitsubishi) was lacking in confidence through leg two and he found the wet conditions difficult as his notes were made for the dry, but he otherwise had a relatively problem-free run to take two points for seventh behind McShea.
Estonian driver Martin Rauam (Mitsubishi) admitted he was losing time as his pace notes were too slow. Then the windows on his side of the car misted up on SS14 and he had to rely on his co-driver's vision for the rest of the stage but generally was happy with his event, taking advice from fellow Estonian and former WRC driver Markko Märtin to get as much experience as possible, and scoring the last available point for eighth.
Stuart Jones (GB, Mitsubishi) had a tricky start to the rally as he broke a front strut mount in SS11 making steering difficult and saw him arrive six minutes late at SS12. Then he holed his sump in the afternoon (SS16), using a rag to fill the hole, only to then get a puncture on SS17 and he was further hindered by taking tyres that were too hard. He continued to finish ninth.
Motocross star Travis Pastrana (Subaru) went through the water splash too fast on SS13, spinning on his way out as the water covered his bonnet, resulting in a misfire, then he stopped to fix a broken suspension after SS18. A double puncture on SS21 saw him drop two positions to twelfth but the reigning Rally America Champion was happy to reach the finish in tenth on such a tricky event.
Alexander Dorosinskiy (RUS, Subaru) experienced misfires through the water splashes on leg two, as well as a puncture on SS17 but having not been to Argentina before, the Russian continued with caution to clock as many competitive kilometres as possible. Unfortunately disaster struck on the final superspecial stage when a crash into the barrier cost him dearly as he lost 10 minutes to drop from a points-scoring eighth position to 11th. OMV-backed Czech driver Štìpán Vojtìch (Mitsubishi) spun twice on the first stage of leg two and continued with a broken suspension, making every jump a challenge, and eventually resulted in a loss of damper oil. He drove steadily to finish 12th.
Patrik Flodin (S, Subaru) misheard a pace note on SS14, hit a gate and damaged his suspension then had difficulty with overheating on leg three, so he drove carefully to the finish to make sure he left with as much experience as possible of the stages, eventually finishing in 13th.
Kristian Sohlberg (FIN, Subaru) led the P-WRC before the start of Argentina but an accident stopped him in his tracks on SS12 damaging the suspension beyond repair, forcing him to become the first P-WRC retirement. Reigning PWRC champion Al-Attiyah pulled a wheel off his Impreza on the final stage of the second day, as did Kuzaj and both opted to retire as any chance of scoring points had now been lost. Loris Baldacci (RSM, Subaru) had a relatively trouble-free leg two but a driveshaft problem on SS19 ended his rally. Italian Fabio Frisiero retired his Mitsubishi on SS20 with turbo failure; fellow countryman Stefano Marrini (Mitsubishi) had a difficult rally but it ended with a damaged radiator fan on SS20; and P-WRC newcomer, Jordanian driver Amjad Farrah (HKJ, Mitsubishi) had a catalogue of woes from the start which ended in retirement following a damaged turbo pipe at the start of the final day.
Cypriot Spyros Pavlides (Subaru) had suspension damage on SS1 which was not detected until leg two when they changed the suspension and gearbox during the midday service. Things improved in the afternoon but further damage to his suspension on the final stage saw him retire after SS20. Fumio Nutahara (J) damaged his Mitsubishi's suspension on SS10, the first stage proper of the rally, seeing him incur a huge amount of penalties for not completing the remainder of the day but he was sideline after SS21 on leg three with a hole in his fuel tank. Mirco Baldacci (RSM, Subaru) had no intercom after SS10 and his windscreen was misting up, both of which he fixed on the road section. Then his air filter broke going through a water splash on the next stage and he took tyres that were too hard for the afternoon's group of stages. Finally, leg three he encountered engine problems so retired before starting SS22.
Federico Villagra, Mitsubishi Lancer EvoIX
“It was never easy as Toshi [Arai] is a driver with a lot of experience who was always just seconds behind me. Conditions were really difficult so it was a question of finding the right balance between speed and safety. It would be nice to do some more events in this championship but at the moment I have nothing."
Toshi Arai, Subaru Impreza WRX STI
“Second is okay. I had to be very careful not to have a puncture because the road was so rough in places. I was also quite scared on Saturday when we lost a bolt on a hub bearing. When we spun on stage 20 we lost some important time and the radiator was blocked with mud so the car was overheating. Two bolts in the subframe also came loose so the car was not so good under braking. It has been a hard rally."
Juho Hänninen, Mitsubishi Lancer EvoIX
“Even if I hadn't lost ten seconds with a spin on the second stage on Sunday I still couldn't have reached Toshi because he was so fast. I've not had any problems with my car but it's been difficult to push too hard because the conditions have been tough. But third is definitely better than nothing."
Press Release P-WRC
