One major change, however, is the inclusion of a Superspecial inside the imposing River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, an event that will mark the start of the rally on Thursday 3 May. Up to 55,000 passionate rally fans are expected to create a festival atmosphere inside the legendary football venue, which is known by locals as ‘The Monumental’.
FIA World Rally Championship news:
Sebastien Loeb took the lead in the 2007 FIA World Rally drivers' championship following his win on the Rally de Portugal.
Loeb now has 38 points, one more than Marcus Gronholm, who dropped to second, after finishing fifth as a result of that 5 minute penalty four weeks ago (something that affected all the 06 spec Focus runners). In the Manufacturers' championship there was no change at the top - although the
Citroen Total WRT cut the gap to
BP Ford from 15 points to 8.
The big news since the Rally Portugal was the announcement by Ford that it has found the reason why the rear side windows on its 06 spec Focus' did not comply with the regulations in terms of thickness on the Rally de Portugal.
Following a ‘comprehensive investigation' by M-Sport, the company which runs the WRC programme for Ford, the infringement has been blamed on a base raw material ‘defect', which 'wasn't identified at the production stage by the long-term supplier, or when it was delivered to M-Sport as the finished article'. Changes have now been ‘implemented to ensure that a problem of this nature cannot happen again'.
Other important developments during the gap between Portugal and Argentina included: confirmation of Chris Atkinson’s new co-driver, Stephane Prevot, news that
Petter Solberg will do the recce for the Jordan Rally and news that
Gigi Galli has had to suspend his WRC programme for 2007, after sponsorship problems.
