Rally Argentina 2009 preview

One thing is guaranteed on Rally Argentina: we will have a different winner of the Production Car WRC category – as both Armindo Araujo and Patrik Sandell, the drivers who have won the first three P-WRC rounds between them this season, sit this one out.

Nasser Al-Attiyah will start among the favourites in P-WRC having won this event and finished second in South America. The sweeping roads around Villa Carlos Paz clearly suit the Qatari driver’s attacking style, and the pace he has already shown on his two previous Production outings this season will fill him with confidence ahead of his trans-Atlantic trip.

“The car feels very good,” said Al-Attiyah of his Subaru Impreza WRX. “I like Argentina, it’s a good rally with some really nice stages. And the spectators are incredible – the fans are just everywhere and so many of them.”

The spectators are always a big feature in Argentina, which is the World Rally Championshp’s sole event in the Americas this season. And those fervent fans will be treated to a fascinating tussle between the fastest Group N cars on the planet, as Toshi Arai aims to clinch his first win of the season in a similar Subaru to Al-Attiyah.

Arai retired from the season opener in Norway, suffering an engine failure ahead of and during the first round. He then collected fourth place in Cyprus and missed Portugal. As the only driver ever to have won the P-WRC title twice, Arai is desperate to collect a third award, but he knows he’s going to have to register a big score in Argentina.

Mitsubishi men Eyvind Brynildsen and Martin Prokop are currently lying third and fourth respectively in the P-WRC standings and a win for either of them would move them to the top of the table. The two Lancer drivers have shown consistency on the first two rallies of their 2009 Production programmes, with both registering a second and a third.

Pirelli Star Driver Mark Tapper will also be competing in Argentina, having added this event to his PSD schedule. The Kiwi drives his own Lancer Evo IX on his first attempt at the Villa Carlos Paz-based event.
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SOURCE:
“Rally Argentina P-WRC preview”
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