BFGoodrich kicks off latin american tour in Brazil

The 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge heads across the Atlantic this week for two rounds in South America: Brazil’s Rally Internacional de Curitiba and – two weeks later – Rally Argentina. This is the second year that the former’s smooth, flowing gravel stages are to host an IRC fixture following BFGoodrich’s win there in 2009 with Kris Meeke (Peugeot).

So, who is likely to follow in the footsteps of the reigning champion this time round, on an event that the Ulsterman is the only driver among the favourites to have previously contested? Skoda/BFGoodrich’s Juho Hanninen and Jan Kopecky seem to have the best credentials to challenge Meeke for victory, unless fellow Brit Guy Wilks (Skoda/BFGoodrich) or Portugal’s Bruno Magalhaes (Peugeot/BFGoodrich) succeed in springing a surprise over the region’s fast, smooth tracks.

"There is a big contrast between the first and second day stages," notes technician Michel Ducher who will be on hand to advise BFGoodrich’s partner teams. "Leg 1’s stages promise to be quite tough on the tyres. They also include a lot of buried rocks which could make punctures a risk. The next day’s harder-packed roads are fast and technically very challenging, with plenty of high-speed blind crests. If the conditions are dry, the BFGoodrich runners will chiefly use the medium compound GZG5 which went very well here last year in both performance and durability terms."

The 2010 format is very similar to that of 2009, with a menu of 15 stages totalling 219.38km, including a super-special very close to the service area which crews will start two at a time.

The organisers have received 48 entries for the 30th Rally Internacional de Curitiba which will be immediately followed by the opening round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at the circuit that juxtaposes the service area.