Symtech aiming for points in Argentina

After having dominated the show and secured an incredible PWRC win in Portugal, Hayden Paddon and the Belgian crew Symtech Racing will reconvene in Argentina next weekend, ready to tackle their next rally challenge.

Rally Argentina, which is the next round of the 2011 Production World Rally Championship, will be an important new event for Hayden Paddon, who will have to focus on driving a good rally and collecting as many points as possible.

Wim De Boeck (Symtech Racing): "Many members of our team have already participated in Rally Argentina, including our co-driver John Kennard. For Hayden, by contrast, this will be his first time in Carlos Paz: an area and a route that he is not familiar with yet. We are confident in our capacities and in those of both Hayden and our Subaru Impreza STR11. However, we do not want to be overly ambitious and aim too high: collecting as many points as possible will be our first target. As the championship comprises only six rounds, for us the most important thing is to be competitive and finish each rally. Now we are ready for this next round and we can’t wait to get started."

Following the Rally Portugal, the Subaru Impreza STR11 car was immediately brought back to the team’s Grobbendonk headquarters in Belgium where it was entirely disassembled, inspected and rebuilt. Everything had to be completed in only two weeks in order to ship the car to Argentina in time for the rally. Given the huge challenge of Rally Argentina, the Subaru has been reinforced in to be well-prepared for the difficult route that it faces this weekend.

Wim De Boeck: "It is of crucial importance to properly address all the logistical issues, as the rally car, the recce car and all the team’s equipment will be travelling for a total of 10 weeks."

For Hayden Paddon the Rally Argentina is a big question mark as he explains: "I’ve completely understood that it will be a difficult rally to tackle and that the route will be quite a challenge for me. Symtech Racing’s Subaru is a very good car, which makes me totally confident that we will do an excellent job together. Obviously, we will be very pleased if we manage to get on the podium. But this will be the most difficult of the year for us and our main objective is to collect as many points as possible for the championship."

Hayden and John have been working hard since Rally Portugal driving a "local" Subaru Impreza in New Zealand and winning the first two rounds of their national championship. Triumphing on the latest round (which normally forms part of the World Rally Championship calendar) is a good reason for Hayden to feel proud of himself: his 2011 season has begun in the best possible way with three wins from three events!

Rally Argentina gets underway with a superspecial stage on Thursday 26 May, followed by the most difficult stages over the next three days from Friday to Sunday. The winner is scheduled to cross the finish ramp on Sunday afternoon.