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FIA Rally: 20th Argentina Rally 2000 Report

13 May 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

20th Argentina Rally 2000
Round 6 of the FIA World Rally Championship
11-14th May 2000

The Argentina Rally got under way in earnest today with seven stages to the north west of Cordoba around La Cumbre. Marcus Gronholm was the initial pace setter before Carlos Sainz hit back to take the overnight lead. Francois Delecour has struggled with hydraulic problems and both SEATs retired after clutch problems set in among the water crossings of SS6. At the moment the FIA World Rally Championship situation is too close to call as the event heads south tomorrow towards Santa Rosa Calamuchita. With the toughest stages of the event lying in wait right at the very end of Sunday's third leg there is still a long way to go.

Ford

Carlos Sainz stripped teeth from first gear on last night's superspecial stages at Complejo Pro Racing and needed a gearbox change. The car was fine for today's opening stages. Colin McRae got off to a good start on today's opening stage but gained a 10 second penalty for being late at the start of SS4. "We stopped to change tyres around but then had the brake pedal go straight to the floor," he said. "We thought a brake pipe had come off but it was just a bent pipe." The team's third car, driven by Petter Solberg, was delayed in Francois Delecour's dust and then gained 40 seconds penalty trying to fix a jammed throttle. He eventually had to drive SS4 using the key as the throttle wouldn't work at all. SS6 was a tremendous one for Ford with Sainz fastest and McRae second. "I've never gone well on that stage before," said Sainz, "but the suspension was perfect and I was confident." McRae added: "If you're prepared to attack then you can really gain time there and I did."

Peugeot

Francois Delecour suffered a fire after the 206 suffered a hydraulic leak after just 500 metres of SS3. "We had no choice but to stop after 2 kms," he admitted. He lost around 12 minutes over the two stages and is now continuing only for testing. Marcus Gronholm was fastest on today's first stage to take the lead. "I'm quite surprised at my speed," he admitted. "It was quite slippery with loose gravel and many times I was on the limit."

Subaru

Overnight leader Richard Burns lost his lead when his engine started to overheat on the twisty SS3 and the mapping cut to a safer, but slower, option. "There was a lot of loose gravel," he admitted, "and we've been cleaning the stage for the following cars." Burns chose a harder tyre to his team mate Juha Kankkunen and the Finn believed that Burns had made the better choice, even though his engine problems had not allowed him to prove it with a fast time. Burns got water into his turbo system on SS6 which cost him the chance to challenge Gronholm's lead and let both Fords past. The unit was changed after the stage but the engine overheating problems have continued and will need to be cured at tonight's final service if Burns is to have any hope of fighting back.

Mitsubishi

From an overnight 10th place, Tommi Makinen jumped to fifth after today's first two stages despite feeling that his tyre choice had not been perfect. "Maybe the ZA would have been better," he said after he felt he needed to run a harder compound than the other Michelin teams. On SS6 Makinen lost sixth gear and was fortunate that the team could change the gearbox at the next service rather than having to wait until the end of the leg. Team mate Freddy Loix had to drive off the road to avoid Francois Delecour's limping Peugeot on SS3 and was then delayed in his dust on the next stage. He was mystified why he could not set faster times and said, "I'll just have to try harder."

Hyundai

Alister McRae had a scare this morning when he came face to face with a horse in the middle of the road on a stage but he was able to avoid injuring either the beast or the Hyundai. On a dramatic SS6 Kenneth Eriksson lost power steering but was still able to move up the leaderboard following the demise of the SEATs although fixing the power steering problem cost road penalties for the Swede.

SEAT

Didier Auriol suffered a rear wheel puncture on SS3 but was unaware of it until the end of the stage thanks to the EMI anti-deflation system in the tyre. He was lucky to escape without mechanical damage on the next stage when he could not avoid a massive rock in the middle of the road. "It was impossible to avoid but luckily it didn't cause any real damage," he admitted. Toni Gardemeister has been struggling to remember the roads on his first visit to Argentina and admitted: "This will be the hardest day for me as I can't find the right pace in this situation." Unfortunately SEAT's day didn't last much longer as both cars stopped on SS6, the stage starting just as SEAT Sport president Vicente Aguilera arrived in Argentina from Barcelona. "This was really unlucky," said Auriol. "We started the day confident that we could chase the top positions but after the first water crossing the clutch began to slip and with each crossing it got worse. After the sixth the car stopped and it was impossible to continue." Gardemeister survived three crossings before suffering a similar fate.

Other teams

Krysztof Holowczyc lost a front wheel of his Subaru on the second stage today and the Wisja TV Turning Point entry has spent the day a distant third in the FIA Teams Cup contest. At the end of the day it is Frederic Dor whose F.Dor Rally Team entry leads the way from the Team Atakan car of Serkan Yazici. In Group N it is reigning FIA World Champion Gustavo Trelles who holds the advantage tonight from Manfred Stohl and Gabriel Pozzo, the three of them driving Mitsubishis.

Tyre facts

Michelin: Marcus Gronholm set fastest time on today's opening stage and between his Peugeot and Carlos Sainz's Ford, Michelin has been fastest on 5 of the first leg's eight stages. Sainz scored his first fastest time of the rally on SS6 despite a 3cm cut in the sidewall of his left rear tyre. Michelin's ATS system enabled the Spaniard to complete the stage without time-loss. Michelin's WRC partners employed a number of tread patterns in the course of the day (Z, ZE, ZA), basing their choice on the nature of the stages - which ranged from a sandy to a harder base - and as a function of their global selection for this event registered eight weeks previously. The Z and the ZA patterns both won stages.

Pirelli: After setting fastest time on both of last night's superspecials, Richard Burns added a third scratch time on SS4. Pirelli crews have been using the KM pattern tyres designed for soft, damp and sandy surfaces although Burns has been hampered by having to run first on the road today and felt that later runners were getting cleaner surfaces. Didier Auriol suffered a rear wheel puncture on SS3 but was unaware of the fact until the end of the stage thanks to the EMI anti-deflation system that worked to maintain the tyre's shape and performance.

Text provided by FIA

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