|
Dubai: Ford takes its FIA World Rally Championship lead back across the Atlantic Ocean next week for the second fixture in the Americas this month.
Having increased its advantage in the manufacturers' standings on Mexico's gravel roads, BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team journeys to Rally Argentina (March 27-30) for an event that generates a special ambience unmatched anywhere else during the season.
The reigning champion holds a 12-point lead with the Ford Focus RS World Rally Car going into this fourth round of the 15-event series. Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen top the drivers' championship by a single point with team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in third place ahead of this second consecutive gravel event. Rally Argentina never fails to excite in a country where the tango mirrors the passion and fervour for life. It is surrounded by colour and the atmosphere crackles as more than a million fanatical Latin Americans flock out into the vast pampas of Cordoba province for a weekend-long fiesta.
Soft and sandy
The scenery is stunning too, ranging from huge expanses of open plains north of the host town of Carlos Paz to the mountains further west where rocky ribbons of road wind through a dramatic moon-like landscape.
The Argentine speed tests differ hugely in their characteristics as the rally visits three different valleys of the province and provide some of the most varied special stages of the season. In general the roads are soft and sandy, with many river crossings, and frequently become rutted during the second pass. In contrast, Sunday morning's El Condor and Giulio Césare mountain tests are narrow and rocky with no margin for error.
|
