The Rally Argentina lands on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge calendar this weekend. We crunch the numbers before Kris Meeke and co tear up the roads.
69...
The number of drivers competing in this year’s rally, including reigning IRC champion Meeke, who arrives fresh from victory in Brazil’s Rally de Curtiba. The Irishman faces a strong challenge from three other Skoda drivers in Guy Wilks, Jan Kopecky and the current championship leader Juho Hahhinen.
240kms...
The total race distance, which includes the opening super special, a 4km run around the streets of Villa Carlos Paz with six stages in the Calamuchita Valley, four in the Punilla Valley and the famous Ascochinga-La Cumbre, which at 22.4kms is the longest of the rally. The stages are separated by nearly 800kms of link roads, meaning the drivers are in for three very long days until the prize-giving on Sunday night.
5...
Victories in a row for Sébastien Loeb, making him far and away the most successful driver in the event’s history. The rally’s switch to the IRC calendar guarantees that a new name will be on the winner’s trophy for the first time since 2005.
1...
The number on Nasser Al-Attiyah’s car. The Qatari driver returns to Argentina after his run to second place in this year’s Dakar Rally. Keeping faith with VW Group, he’s swapped his Touareg for a Skoda Fabia.
12...
Argentina Rallies for Federico Villagra. The 40-year-old dominated his domestic championship, winning it five times in a row from 2001-5 before winning the N-class in the main event in 2006 and 2007. This year, he lines up in the number 2 car, a Ford Fiesta S2000.
7...
Wins for Lancia, giving the Italian marque more wins at the rally than any other manufacturer. Three of those victories came from the insuperable Massimo Biasion at the wheel, while Jorge Recalde took two wins to delight the home fans. The others came courtesy of Mikael Ericsson and Didier Auriol (one each). The Frenchman became the first person to win the rally driving for different manufacturers, beating Carlos Sainz by just six seconds in 1994.
30...
The Rally Argentina was first run in 1980. It’s been held in three locations since then, Tucuman in 1980, 81 and 1991, and San Carlos de Bariloche in 1982. Every other year, it’s been staged in the mountainous region of Cordoba, a favourite stage in the Dakar. The area provides drivers with plenty of twisty roads and standing water to play in.
4...
As the saying goes, if you want to win, get a Finn. Four Finnish drivers can jointly lay claim to eight victories in the Rally Argentina, starting with Hannu Mikkola in 1983, Timo Salonen in 1985, Juha Kankkunen in 1993 and 1999, three for Tommi Mäkinen (1996-8) and Marcus Grönholm in 2003.
One million...
Fans and counting. The rally is one of the best attended on the calendar and as this year it forms part of Argentina’s bicentenary, expect to see fans lining the route in Cordoba and Villa Carlos Paz.
The Rally Argentina runs from Friday, March 19, until Sunday, March 21. Find out more info at rallyargentina.com.
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