Argentina 2008

ARGENTINA IS A TOUGH RALLY AT ANY TIME BUT WITH THIS YEAR'S EVENT BEING RUN 6/7 WEEKS EARLIER THAN USUAL THE WEATHER WOULD HAVE A GREATER IMPACT. COUPLE THIS WITH THE NEW TYRE RULES THAT LED TO THE TEAMS RUNNING ON HARD TYRE COMPOUNDS THAT THEY CANNOT CUT TO PROVIDE BETTER GRIP AND YOU HAVE A RECIPE FOR CHAOS. AND THAT IS WHAT WE GOT. BY THE END OF THE RALLY, OVER 50% OF THE W.R.C. CARS WERE RUNNING UNDER THE SUPER RALLY RULES THAT ALLOW CARS TO RE-ENTER WITH AN AUTOMATIC 5-MINUTE TIME PENALTY WHEN THEY HAVE HAD TO RETIRE. NORMALLY THE TIME GAPS ON THE LEADER BOARD ARE SMALL ENOUGH FOR THAT TO MEAN POINT-SCORING WOULD BE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE BUT HERE, WHERE 4TH PLACE WAS OVER 15 MINUTES DOWN ON THE LEADER, IT BECAME A WORTHWHILE PROPOSITION.

MIKKO HIRVONEN WAS ONE SUCH RE-ENTRANT. AFTER A SLICE OF LUCK ON STAGE 1, WHEN HE COMPLETED THE STAGE IN GOOD VISIBILITY WHEREAS SEBASTIEN LOEB FOLLOWING HAD TO CONTEND WITH THICK FOG, HE HAD A LEAD OF 50 SECONDS THAT HE MAINTAINED FOR MOST OF DAY 1. TOWARDS THE END OF THE DAY HE HIT A ROCK WHILST 'CUTTING' A BEND AND SMASHED HIS FRONT SUSPENSION. HE FINISHED 5TH BY THE END OF THE RALLY. GIGI GALLI HAD A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE, RETIRING ON DAY 2 BUT FINISHING 6TH AT THE END. JARI-MATTI LATVALA MISJUDGED HIS APPROACH SPEED DURING A DAY 1 STAGE, ROLLED THE CAR, LOST 9/10 MINUTES, RE-ENTERED ON DAY 2 BUT SUFFERED STARTER MOTOR PROBLEMS AND HAD TO RETIRE AGAIN.

CAN ANYONE TELL ME OF A MORE UNFORTUNATE PAIR THAN PETTER SOLBERG AND PHIL MILLS? HOW THEY MAINTAIN THEIR MOTIVATION, I KNOW NOT! BOTH SUBARUS WERE LOOKING GOOD FOR A DOUBLE PODIUM AT THE START OF DAY 3 WITH PETTER AHEAD OF CHRIS ATKINSON AND ONLY A CAREFUL, NO RISK DRIVE REQUIRED BECAUSE THEY WERE COMFORTABLY AHEAD OF DANIEL SORDO IN FOURTH PLACE. THE DREADED GREMLINS STRUCK AGAIN WHEN PETTER'S ENGINE JUST CUT OUT WITH A COMPLETE LACK OF ANY ELECTRICS ON THE CAR THAT COULD NOT BE EXPLAINED. WE, AND THEY, CAN ONLY HOPE THAT THE NEW CAR IS MORE RELIABLE THAN THIS 4-YEAR OLD VEHICLE HAS BEEN. SO CHRIS FINISHED SECOND AGAIN AS HE DID IN MEXICO LAST TIME OUT AND DANIEL MADE IT ONTO THE PODIUM FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR.

SO WHO WON? THE ONE PERSON WHO CAN USUALLY BE RELIED ON TO KEEP OUT OF TROUBLE - SEBASTIEN LOEB. HE BREAKS RECORDS NOT CARS! HE NOW HAS 39 VICTORIES TO HIS CREDIT AND THIS WAS HIS FOURTH CONSECUTIVE RALLY OF ARGENTINA VICTORY, BREAKING TOMMI MAKINEN'S PREVIOUS RECORD AND, BY SEASON'S END, HE COULD WELL BREAK THE RECORD OF FOUR CONSECUTIVE W.R.C. CHAMPIONSHIPS THAT HE HOLDS JOINTLY WITH TOMMI. BUT THAT IS A LONG WAY OFF YET.

Rally Results posted by
David Little
31st March 2008

  The HTML code for this page has been validated by the World Wide Web Consortium.