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FIA Rally: 20th Argentina Rally 2000, Final Race Report

15 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

Congratulations to Richard Burns and Subaru on their third victory of this year's FIA World Rally Championship. Both have extended their leads in the Drivers and Manufacturers series after six of the 14 rounds. Today's six stages have been run in fairly muddy conditions and with fog making visibility difficult in the high altitude stages close to Mina Clavero but with the exception of Colin McRae's retirement with engine failure on the first stage, there have been few dramas among the leading crews. The Championship now heads back to Europe for next month's Acropolis Rally in Greece where the heat and rough roads offer a fresh challenge to the teams.

Subaru

Richard Burns won four of today's six stages to confirm his victory and extend his lead in the FIA World Rally Championship. He went into the final stage with a 33s advantage over Gronholm but doubled that with his 13th fastest time of the event. The muddy nature of the early stages caused a brief recurrence of the engine overheating problems from the first day but a radiator swap immediately cured the problem. Burns lost his record of setting fastest time on every stage today when he overshot a junction in the fog on SS20 but he was still well clear of second placed Gronholm. Juha Kankkunen's overnight statement that, if Tommi Makinen wanted to win this rally he'd first have to get past, came back to haunt him on the opening stage when the Finn left the road and damaged his car against a tree. Although Kankkunen was able to continue he had lost a lot of time and Makinen was past him into third as a result.

Peugeot

Marcus Gronholm had a big moment on SS18 when he took a crest too quickly and was fortunate to stay on the road. The team said that he was lucky that the car landed on its rear wheels rather than nose-diving into the ground. "I was really, really scared," admitted the Finn. "I was so lucky not to crash. I'm really not sure how much I can attack and still be able to reduce the risk of this happening again." Gronholm set his first fastest time of the day on SS20 but he was not in a position to overhaul Burns unless the rally leader had a problem. Franois Delecour spent today evaluating tyres for his team mate but then lost a lot of time on SS20 with a failed clutch. After the finish Gronholm and his team manager were summoned to the Stewards after claims that the Finn had been seen with his car's bonnet open in a refuelling zone and, after the hearing of witness, no further action was taken.

Mitsubishi

Tommi Makinen had to compromise on his tyre choice for the first two stages this morning. Although he was happier with the wider Michelin ZA tyre for the second of the pair of stages he would have preferred the narrower ZE tyre for the first. "The first stage was very difficult," he explained, "and the narrower tyre would have been better but these things are always a compromise. The car is fine and we are continuing to push but there are many hazards and I have to mix speed with caution." Team mate Freddy Loix found out how tricky the conditions were when he spun on both of the first two stages. "We made a small spin on the first stage but only lost a little time. However when we did it again on the second we found ourselves facing the wrong way and the engine stalled."

Ford

Colin McRae's Argentina Rally came to a frustrating end half way through the opening stage of today's final leg when the Scot's engine failed. The cause of the failure is not yet known but it means that neither of Ford's registered crews (McRae and Carlos Sainz) has finished this event. Team director Malcolm Wilson said: "We knew today was going to be difficult but we were really looking forward to the challenge. The rally was there to be taken." Although Ford will leave Argentina without adding to its points tally in the FIA World Championship for Manufacturers, Petter Solberg did finish in the Drivers' series points, climbing to sixth with McRae's demise despite hitting a tree and spinning twice on the first two stages. "It really is very, very slippery," he said. "It's muddy and rough and not nice conditions in which to drive."

Hyundai

Alister McRae continued to set some good times today although he initially reported that the alternator was not working as well as it should. A minor brake problem cost the Scot a further 40s road penalties while it was fixed at the service point after SS18 but he was able to record Hyundai's first points finish in manufacturers series. By contrast his team mate Kenneth Eriksson was hampered by a misfire when running on full boost but still managed to end the event in the top 10 (passing Group N winner Gustavo Trelles for eighth place on the final stage) and gain useful data for future events.

Other teams

Krzysztof Holowczyc (Wizja TV Turning Point team) retired from the FIA Teams Cup competition before the first stage today when electronic throttle problems that had begun last night were not rectified in the first service area. The Polish driver was OTL (over time limit) before the start of SS17. Serkan Yazici (Team Atakan) won the contest from Frederic Dor who struggled today with a misting windscreen. Group N eventually fell to reigning World Champion Gustavo Trelles who beat Gabriel Pozzo by just over a minute. Pozzo took the lead yesterday after early leader Manfred Stohl retired with engine failure but Trelles passed him today to win and close the gap to Stohl in the Championship. News of Loris Roggia, co-driver to Andrea Aghini who crashed out of the event on SS9, is that the Italian has damaged the fifth and sixth vertebrae in his back and will need surgery to stabilise his condition before he can safely fly back to Italy. Roggia is currently in the Hospital Privado de Cordoba where his condition is being monitored until he is fit again. Doctors say that his injuries are only trauma and there are no neurological problems anticipated.

Tyre facts

Pirelli: Although the rain was absent today the stages were much muddier than yesterday as a result of the overnight weather. The leading Pirelli crews remained faithful to the soft compound KM6 tyre but the technicians adjusted the tread pattern by adding extra cuts to the inner shoulders of the tyres to further improve the tyre's ability to bite through the top surface and find grip below. Richard Burns set fastest time on four of today's six stages (the first three and the last stage) to take his total to 13 out of the event's 22 stages.

Michelin: Overnight rain left many parts of the final day's stages muddier than had been seen during Legs 1 and 2. Yet the proportion of mud was still insufficient to make the Michelin WB the obvious choice for Peugeot, nor the narrow Michelin ZE for the Mitsubishi runners, although both teams did respectively run with these patterns at least once today. All three of Michelin's manufacturer partners set at least one fastest stage time in the course of the rally (Gronholm and Sainz 3, McRae and Makinen 1).

Text provided by FIA

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