 Argentina Rally 2002 preview.
Story by Andrew Frampton.
Four successive victories for the Peugeot team have marked them out as the favourites after just five rounds of this year's championship. However, Ford and Subaru will be hoping to convert their pace into points in the latest round of the season, on the dirt roads of Argentina.
The Peugeot domination so far has left the team with a 41-point lead in the manufacturer's championship - that's more points than the other six teams have amassed in total. Finland's Marcus Gronholm leads the standings after five rounds, courtesy of points finishes in each of the events so far. They include two dominant victories - in Sweden, and last time out, in Cyprus. Gronholm's lead in the driver's championship stands at eleven points, with Gilles Panizzi, the team's asphalt specialist, holding second position courtesy of victories in Corsica and Catalunya. The reigning champion Richard Burns is now up to third in the standings thanks to podium finishes in the last three rounds. After a slow start to the season, Burns is starting to settle in to the Peugeot team, although he is now 12 points behind Gronholm. Harri Rovanpera is the fourth Peugeot driver in the top five in the standings, with the Finn driving in each of the gravel based events, including Argentina. With their current form, anything but a Peugeot victory in South America will be quite a surprise.
Hoping to topple the French are Subaru, who hold joint second in the manufacturer's standings with Ford. Tommi Makinen holds fourth place in the driver's standings, thanks to second position in the opening round in Monte Carlo (although he gained the full ten points as the winning Citroen crew were not eligible for points) and third in Cyprus. However, the Finn has failed to make it to the end of the events in between, meaning he is now 17 points off the lead. His team-mate Petter Solberg has shown flashes of brilliance this season, especially in Cyprus, when he set a series of fastest stage times despite falling well down the leaderboard with mechanical problems on the first day. His superb drive rescued him fifth position. So far this season the talented Norwegian has taken three fifth positions and a sixth. He has been tipped to score his first win this season, and it is not out of the question in Argentina.
Ford are also on the pace on the loose surface events this season, and an extension to their current points haul is quite likely in Argentina. All four Fords that competed in Cyprus set fastest stage times at some point in the event, although they only emerged with one point. This came courtesy of Colin McRae's sixth place finish, although they should have claimed nine more points - the Scot throwing away a probable victory with two rolls on the final day. He had scored consistently prior to that, with three sixths and a fourth in the first four events of the 2001 campaign. It was another troubled event for Carlos Sainz - finishing just outside the top ten. The Spaniard had made a good start to the season, claiming podium finishes in the opening two events, before taking sixth in Corsica. However, 'El Matador' was forced out of his home event (Catalunya) after hitting a spectator's car, and failed to score in Cyprus. He holds sixth in the standings, but will have to make the points in Argentina to have any realistic chance of retaining it. Although the Estonian Markko Martin has yet to get into the top six finishers this season, he briefly led in Cyprus before a series of problems knocked him down to eighth overall.
Having lost Tommi Makinen to Subaru, Mitsubishi have struggled with an under-developed car this season, and Francois Delecour and Alister McRae have taken just six points this year. Delecour has done as much possible to wring every last second out of an uncompetitive car, and managed a seventh position in Corsica and ninth positions in Monte Carlo and Catalunya. Alister McRae has suffered with a variety of problems so far this season, with his only points finish coming virtue of a good fifth place in Sweden. The team had hoped for an improvement on the gravel events, but that failed to materialise in Cyprus. An increase in pace in Argentina would be very welcome.
One of Hyundai's targets for the 2002 campaign is to out-score Mitsubishi to take fourth in the manufacturer's standings. However, a season of promise has only yielded two points so far. Freddy Loix has shown pace this season, despite breaking his foot in the opening round in Monte Carlo. A gritty drive in Sweden, which saw him running as high as fourth, unfortunately came to an end with mechanical failure. The team debuted its new model Accent WRC3 in Corsica, and the Belgian brought the car home ninth, for one championship point. His team-mate Armin Schwarz has also performed well this season, and was rewarded with seventh in Cyprus, although he was only one stage away from making the top six. Juha Kankkunen, who drove the third car to eighth in Sweden, will also be in Argentina.
Skoda have failed to score points this season, although the ungainly Octavia has showed pace on some of the events. Kenneth Eriksson ran in the top six early on in Cyprus before falling back to ninth on the final day. His team-mate Toni Gardemeister was in contention for the final manufacturer's point up until the final stage in Catalunya, before an engine failure resulted in another DNF for the team. Prior to that, Gardemeister had taken tenth in Monte Carlo, proving the team does have pace to compete on asphalt. Its performance on the gravel in Argentina should be enhanced by the inclusion of rally legend Stig Blomqvist in the third car.
Driver's Standings:
1. Marcus Gronholm 31pts
2. Gilles Panizzi 20pts
3. Richard Burns 19pts
4. Tommi Makinen 14pts
5. Harri Rovanpera 9pts
6. Carlos Sainz 9pts
Manufacturer's Standings:
1. Peugeot 68pts
2. Subaru 27pts
3. Ford 27pts
4. Mitsubishi 6pts
5. Hyundai 2pts
6. Skoda 0pts
2002 WRC season calendar
17/01 - 20/01 - 70E Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo
- Monte Carlo stage map by JR
- Monte Carlo preview by AF
- Monte Carlo review by AF
- Monte Carlo stage-by-stage times by JR
31/01 - 03/02 - Uddeholm Swedish Rally
- Sweden stage map by JR
- Sweden preview by AF
- Sweden review by AF
- Sweden stage-by-stage times by JR
- Audio downloads from Sweden by Ralliart
07/03 - 10/03 - Tour De Corse - Rallye De France
- Corsica stage map by JR
- Corsica preview by AF
- Corsica review by AF
- Corsica stage-by-stage times by JR
- Audio downloads from Corsica by Ralliart
21/03 - 24/03 - Rallye Catalunya - Rallye De Espaņa
- Catalunya stage map by JR
- Catalunya preview by AF
- Catalunya review by AF
- Catalunya stage-by-stage times by JR
- Audio downloads from Catalunya by Ralliart
18/04 - 21/04 - Cyprus Rally
- Cyprus stage map by JR
- Cyprus preview by AF
- Cyprus review by AF
- Cyprus stage-by-stage times by JR
16/05 - 19/05 - Rally Argentina
- Argentina stage map by JR
- Argentina preview by AF
- Argentina review by AF
- Argentina stage-by-stage times by JR
13/06 - 16/06 - Acropolis Rally
- Acropolis stage map by JR
- Acropolis preview by AF
- Acropolis review by AF
- Acropolis stage-by-stage times by JR
11/07 - 14/07 - Safari Rally Kenya
- Safari stage map by JR
- Safari preview by AF
- Safari review by AF
- Safari stage-by-stage times by JR
08/08 - 11/08 - Neste Rally Finland
- Finland stage map by JR
- Finland review by SS
- Finland stage-by-stage times by JR
22/08 - 25/08 - Int.Adac Rallye Deutschland
- Deutschland stage map by JR
- Deutschland review by AF
- Deutschland stage-by-stage times by JR
19/09 - 22/09 - Rallye Sanremo - Rallye D'Italia
- Sanremo stage map by JR
- Sanremo review by SS
- Sanremo stage-by-stage times by JR
03/10 - 06/10 - Propecia Rally Of New Zealand
- New Zealand stage map by JR
- New Zealand review by SS
- New Zealand stage-by-stage times by JR
31/10 - 03/11 - Telstra Rally Australia
14/11 - 17/11 - Network Q Rally Of Great Britain
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