Loeb keeps it on the road in Argentina

World Rally Championship teams continued their short tour of the Americas in Argentina. Summer has moved on in the Southern Hemisphere, leaving cold rain in its place. The opening leg of Rally Argentina was hard on the drivers, with Sebastien Loeb being the only one able to balance a mixture of speed and caution to claim the rally lead. The Frenchman will start leg two a whomping minute and a half over the rest of the field.

Sébastien Loeb. Photo by xpb.cc.

“Once we found ourselves with a reasonably clear lead, we were able to lift a little,” explained Loeb. “I am pleased with the way the day went but this rally is far from over. So much can still happen and the stages promise to stay treacherous all the way through to Sunday afternoon.”

In the opening stage the Ford’s of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala jumped to the top of the times. Hirvonen looked particularly strong, pulling out close to fifty seconds on the foggy test. The ground was mostly cold mud so the Finn wasn’t penalized by starting first on the road. Loeb was in third, close behind Latvala, but it looked like second was all he could challenge for. Argentina was living up to its fame of water crossings and tricky conditions.

“I couldn’t see much in the first stage because of fog and visibility was down to 10 meters in places, but I’m not afraid to drive fast when I can’t see,” said Hirvonen. “I had no idea how good my speed was and at the finish my first words to Jarmo were ‘we’ve either lost a minute or won a minute’. My pace notes worked really well and in fog that is so important. There was also a lot of rain and the stage was treacherous.”

Loeb moved into second the very next stage when Latvala rolled his Ford Focus. He was able to soldier on to today’s end to finish eighth overall, with three stage wins to his credit. Amazingly Latvala was fastest on the third stage, right after his rollover.

“I’ve been happy with my speed, I just need to get rid of my mistakes,” admitted Latvala. “Tomorrow’s stages are faster and wider and I hope it stays dry. If not, then at least I’ve learned today how to drive when it’s wet and slippery and conditions are tricky.”

Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila, BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, Ford Focus RS WRC. Photo by Ford Motor Company.

That left Hirvonen to carry the Ford banner and it looked by midday service that he was going to stretch out his points lead over Loeb by the end of this weekend. After service it all went pear shaped for the Finn, hitting a rock while at full lock on the steering wheel. The control arm was sheared off, forcing the leader into an instant retirement. Hirvonen will start tomorrow’s leg under SuperRally rules, in twenty-fifth place.

The void from both Ford works drivers falling down the order was happily filled by the Subaru’s of Chris Atkinson and Petter Solberg. Sitting close together in second and third respectively, the boys in blue are worn out but happy. Tomorrow will be another difficult run for them, and with Gigi Galli’s Ford and Dani Sordo’s Citroen close behind, the pair can’t rest until the podiums are secured. After that Solberg and Atkinson will have to sort out which one gets the better spot.

“Today has been tough but I’m pleased with second place” said Chris Atkinson. “I made a mistake on stage eight and we lost quite a bit of time so the gap to Petter is much smaller now. You really kick yourself when you give away that much time, but that’s what can happen in these conditions. Tomorrow we will have to push just as hard so it will be another tough day. It’s great for the team to have two cars in the top three, but Galli and Sordo are not so far behind, and we have seen how much things can change today, so it won’t be easy.”

Galli put in a mighty effort to claim another stage win for Stobart M-Sport. While everyone else was slowing down or dropping out the Italian kept his pace consistently quick but couldn’t make up the time he lost to the Subarus on stage two. Behind him in fifth Sordo was busy learning how to be quick on the slick mud, setting the second fastest time on a stage along the way. He’ll have to keep his pace up to snatch a podium and put Citroen ahead of Subaru for the manufacturers’ title.

Gianluigi Galli and Giovanni Bernacchini, Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, Ford Focus RS WRC. Photo by xpb.cc.

Before the start of Rally Argentina the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile World Motor Sport Council announced a few changes to the WRC. Most relevant to this season was an immediate ruling that new teams, like Suzuki, are allowed more engines and parts than normal. New entries in rally tend to have a bit harder time with their equipment so this ruling will give them a better chance to be competitive and stay in the sport.

For the future new technical regulations were set to start in 2011 with the new cars able to compete by next year. The new cars will be based off current Group N and Super 2000 platforms, with kits allowed that adds a strong turbo and aerodynamics. The kits will be required to be fitted and removed within a yet-to-be-determined amount of time.

This move is effectively a cost cutting measure, by forcing teams to use mass produced chassis with controlled modifications allowed. There is a wide range of manufacturers already homologated by the FIA for use in Group N. With the cost of development lowered this change means more teams will look to move from a lower tier into the WRC. The cars will still be fast, look more like what you can buy in the showroom and there is the potential there will be a lot of them. The future of WRC is looking good.

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Orlando Motors Sport üzerinde şu anda okumakta olduğunuz 'Loeb keeps it on the road in Argentina' isimli yazı 29 Mar 2008 tarihinde, saat: 22:33 'de admin tarafından gönderilmiş.

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