IRC Argentina preview : The competitors

While Curitiba winner and defending IRC champion Kris Meeke had the edge over his rivals in Brazil due to his previous knowledge of the stages, the Peugeot UK driver’s experience of the Argentine roads is limited to a recce he carried out in 2005 when he was contesting the Junior World Rally Championship. Although the Northern Irishman has some idea of the terrain he will face, he admits he will be starting from scratch when he begins his preparations for the event next week alongside Irish co-driver Paul Nagle.

Juho Hanninen’s experience of the event was garnered from an outing in the Production Car World Rally Championship in 2007 when he finished third in the Group N-based category. The factory Skoda Motorsport driver, who moved into the lead of the IRC standings following a hard-fought third place finish in Curtiba after an early puncture, says he is a big fan of the rally.

Jan Kopecky, Hanninen’s Skoda Motorsport team-mate, has never competed in Argentina before so will be looking to call upon the Finn’s knowledge of the stages in an effort to improve upon the fourth-place finish he achieved in Brazil. Both drivers will be fighting fit when they reach Carlos Paz for the recce early next week after undertaking a week-long training session.

Guy Wilks, who will line-up in a Skoda UK Motorsport-run Fabia, has fond memories of competing in Argentina after topping the Junior world championship classification on the event in 2006. After finishing second in Curitiba earlier this month, the British driver has high hopes of adding to his impressive points’ total. He prepared for Argentina with a short break in Brazil before embarking on a fitness training programme in Argentina.

Nasser Al-Attiyah has described Rally Argentina as his favourite rally in the world so it is fitting, therefore, that the Qatari has chosen to make his IRC debut on the gravel event at the wheel of a Rene Georges Rally Sport-run Fabia. While Al-Attiyah might be an unknown quantity as far as the IRC is concerned, he has a strong pedigree in Argentina. He was second on January’s Dakar Rally, which started and finished in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, and won Group N on Rally Argentina last season.

Federico Villagra is one of Argentina’s most successful rally drivers after winning his country’s domestic title on eight occasions. The 40-year-old, nicknamed El Coyote, will give M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta S2000 its latest outing in the IRC although his lack of time behind the wheel of the car could put him at a slight disadvantage during the opening stages. Rally Argentina is likely to mark Villagra’s only outing in the IRC this season so he will be determined to put on a strong show.

Bruno Magalhaes starts Rally Argentina on the back of another IRC points haul in Brazil. Although he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his performance in Curitiba, he used the closing stages of the rally to experiment with different set-ups on his Peugeot Portugal 207 S2000. The 29-year-old from Lisbon had not driven on gravel for nine months before competing in Brazil so will be better prepared in Argentina.

Stohl Racing’s Daniel Oliveira is the last of the IRC regulars competing in Argentina and will start the Carlos Paz-based rally on a high after picking up his first points of the season in Brazil. The 24-year-old Peugeot 207 driver has only been competing for a year but has done the bulk of his rallies in Argentina so will have some useful experience to call upon.

Aside from the IRC regulars there will be a host of Argentine drivers capable of finishing in the top ten on the rally. Gabriel Pozzo is highly regarded and won the first round of the Argentine championship, Rally Mina Clavero, last month. He will team up with Claudio Menzi in the two-car Barettero Subaru team. Luciano Bernardi leads the Tango Rally Team’s challenge in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X where he will be joined by Nicolas Madero, Alejandro Cancio and Marcos Ligato.

Brazilians Luciano Fleck and Rafael Tulio will be among the favourites for IRC 2WD Cup honours in their Peugeot 207s, as will Argentina’s Pablo Palaez in a Honda Civic.