Big entry and distances for Rally Argentina

A total of 60 drivers, including 16 in World Rally Cars, will take on Rally Argentina’s gruelling 503 competitive kilometres when the event takes place as round five of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia later this month.

Featuring an endurance stage on each day of the event - including the monster 66-kilometre Matadero-Ambul test - the rally’s total route of 1700 kilometres is set to test crews to the limit.

On Friday, competitors will tackle the 51.88-kilometre Ascochinga-Agua de Oro stage twice, while on Saturday they will face two runs over the 39.74-kilometre Intiyaco-Golpe de Agua test.

However, the biggest challenge of all has been saved for the final day of the rally: 66 kilometres over Matadero-Ambul.

WRC manager Michele Mouton commented: “Having endurance stages is a good thing because you know that there will always be a story from them. On these stages, something will definitely happen and this is interesting for the journalists and the spectators. Of course we call them long stages now, but in the past these would have been just normal stages. So we want to give everyone the feeling that getting to the end of these stages is a special achievement and encourage the story.”

Rally Argentina takes place on gravel roads around Cordoba from 26-29 April. The event also counts as round three of the Production Car World Rally Championship, which is contested by local hero Marcos Ligato.