The 24th Rally of Argentina takes place this coming weekend - the eighth round out of sixteen in the 2004
FIA World Rally Championship.
Argentina will also play host to the fourth round in the 2004 FIA Production Car WRC.
Starting on Thursday 15 July with two sprints round a Super Special stage in the host town of Carlos Paz, the rally will be the sixth consecutive gravel event of the season and marks the halfway point in the 16 round FIA Championship.
Comprising three legs and 382.63 competitive kilometres, Rally Argentina includes 26 stages. Leg one is run to the north of Carlos Paz, near Le Cumbre, while Legs two and three offer a mixture of stages, both north and south of the host town.
This year the event will see a return to the stages near El Condor in Leg three, which peaks at 2,153 metres above sea level. The longest test, the Ascochinga stage at 28.83km, will be used for SS4 and SS8, while the shortest, the Super Especial Complejo Pro-Racing Super Special at 3.02km, will be used six times as SS1, SS2, SS11, SS12, SS20 and SS21.
The winning car is expected to cross the finish ramp at 1638hrs on Sunday 18 July.
Special notes:
Run on the edge of the Pampas and in the hills close to the city of Cordoba, Rally Argentina is often cited as the most beautiful rally of the year. Breath-taking scenery and numerous water splashes make for spectacular viewing and every year tens of thousands of fans flock to the stages to cheer on their favourite rally drivers.
For the drivers, the event is characterised by high-speeds and fluctuating conditions. Loose gravel stages high in the mountains combine narrow, twisty sections with flat-out roads and numerous surface changes.
One of the highest events of the year, many stages are more than 1,000 metres above sea level and weather conditions can be unpredictable, changing rapidly with little warning. In the wet, the loose gravel surface can be exceptionally slippery, while current winter temperatures can fluctuate between 20°C and below freezing.
FIA World Rally Championship news:
Sebastien Loeb leads the World Rally drivers' championship, 9 points ahead of
Petter Solberg.
Citroen meanwhile head the constructors' - 15 points ahead of Ford, while
Subaru are a further six adrift in third.
News from the Manufacturers' teams:
555 Subaru World Rally Team:
[Petter Solberg, car #1 and
Mikko Hirvonen, car #2.]
Petter Solberg has competed in Argentina four times and has scored points on each occasion. He finished second in 2002 and is looking to improve on that this year.
Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen contested the Argentine event for the first time in 2003 when he finished 16th. This year he will be aiming to secure championship points.
