Rally Argentina 2007

 Rally Argentina 2007

Racing data
6th of 16 rounds of the 2007 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Argentina
Date:	4th-6th May 2007
Begin:	Cordoba
Exams:	23 tests over 371.00 km
Distance:	1383.14 km
Covering:	gravel
Podium
First:	Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team
Second:	Marcus Grönholm Ford World Rally Team
Third:	Mikko Hirvonen Ford World Rally Team

The 27th Rally Argentina was the sixth of 16 FIA World Championship races in 2007. The rally consisted of 23 special stages and was held between May 4th and 6th.

The parc fermé in Argentina

Race report

At the start of the Argentina Rally , a short, first special stage of 2.4 kilometers was driven. The WRC teams and drivers had traveled around 700 kilometers to Buenos Aires from the rally base in Villa Carlos Paz . The fans thanked the drivers with a standing ovation and celebrated the WRC with enthusiasm during their short visit far away from the actual rally route. In the football stadium River Plate Stadium a gravel double course was heaped up. The pilots ran through the course three times. The best time went to the Ford works driver Mikko Hirvonen with 2: 08.3 minutes. His teammate Marcus Grönholm was classified in second place, 0.6 seconds behind. Because not all FIA delegates and team members were able to fly back to Córdoba from Buenos Aires in time due to the bad weather , seven of the eight special stages had to be canceled on Friday. Only the ninth special stage in the evening at the Estadio Cordoba could be driven. This special stage was also won by Hirvonen, who started Saturday as the leader of the rally.

With the Citroën C4 WRC, Sébastien Loeb secured his third victory in the Rally Argentina and the fourth success in the sixth round of the WRC. In the end, Loeb relegated the Ford Focus RS WRC driver Marcus Grönholm to second place by 36.7 seconds. Loeb thus extended his lead in the drivers' world championship by two to three points. Ford, in turn, benefited from a good team performance and strengthened its position in the manufacturers' standings. Third place went to Grönholm's team-mate Mikko Hirvonen , who could look forward to six World Cup points. With Jari-Matti Latvala and Henning Solberg , positions four and five also went to Ford. The second Citroën factory driver Dani Sordo followed in sixth place.

Classifications

Bottom line

Item	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points
WRC
1	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	2: 52: 03.8		10
2	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 52: 40.5	0: 36.7	8th
3	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 54: 19.0	2: 15.2	6th
4th	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 55: 46.8	3: 43.0	5
5	Henning Solberg	Cato Menkerud	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 56: 13.9	4: 10.1	4th
6th	Daniel Sordo	Marc Marti	Citroën C4 WRC	2: 56: 27.4	4: 23.6	3
7th	Chris Atkinson	Stéphane Prévot	Subaru Impreza WRC	2: 56: 47.2	4: 43.4	2
8th	Manfred Stohl	Ilka Minor	Citroën Xsara WRC	2: 57: 24.0	5: 20.2	1
PCWRC
1 (9)	Federico Villagra	Diego Curletto	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 08: 53.7	16: 49.9	10
2 (10)	Toshi Arai	Tony Sircombe	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3: 09: 03.0	16: 59.2	8th
3 (11)	Juho Hänninen	Mikko Markkula	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 09: 21.9	17: 18.1	6th
4 (13)	Gabriel Pozzo	Mario Stillo	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 12: 15.7	20: 11.9	5
5 (14)	Marcos Ligato	Flavio Zanella	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 13: 32.9	21: 29.1	4th
6 (16)	Niall McShea	Gordon Noble	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	3: 14: 23.6	22: 19.8	3
7 (17)	Andreas Aigner	Klaus Wicha	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3:15:02	22: 58.8	2
8 (19)	Martin Rauam	Kristo Kraag	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3: 16: 59.5	24: 55.7	1

Special stages

Day	WP number	Start CET	WP name	length	driver	automobile	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 May 3rd	WP1	18:35	River Plate Stadium	2.40 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 08.3	67.34 km / h	Mikko Hirvonen
Day 2 May 4th	WP2	10:45	Capilla del Monte 1	22.95 km	called off	-	-
	WP3	11:22	San Marcos 1	19.23 km	called off	-	-
	WP4	12:20	Villa Giardino 1	15.50 km	called off	-	-
	WP5	12:51 pm	Valle Hermoso 1	10.94 km	called off	-	-
	WP6	13:32	Cosquin 1	11.27 km	called off	-	-
	WP7	16:11	Capilla del Monte 2	22.95 km	called off	-	-
	WP8	16:48	San Marcos 2	19.23 km	called off	-	-
	WP9	19:05	Estadio Córdoba	2.40 km	Mikko Hirvonen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 31.7	55.85 km / h
Day 3 May 5th	WP10	08:23	La Cumbre	18.70 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	15: 35.1	71.99 km / h	Sébastien Loeb
	WP11	09:21	Ascochinga	23.28 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	14: 45.2	94.68 km / h
	WP12	10:14	Villa Giardino 2	15.50 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	11: 02.6	84.21 km / h
	WP13	10:45	Valle Hermoso 2	10.94 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	7: 11.3	91.31 km / h
	WP14	11:26	Cosquin 2	11.27 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	6: 09.5	109.8 km / h
	WP15	14:13	Santa Rosa 1	21.40 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	12: 48.1	100.3 km / h
	WP16	15:06	Las Bajadas	16.35 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	8: 39.8	113.24 km / h
	WP17	15:52	Amboy	20.29 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	10: 19.4	117.93 km / h
	WP18	16:57	Santa Rosa 2	21.40 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	12: 56.3	99.24 km / h
Day 4 May 6th	WP19	08:19	Mina Clavero I.	23.81 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	18: 48.8	75.94 km / h
	WP20	09:52	El Condor 1	16.81 km	Daniel Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	13: 39.9	73.81 km / h
	WP21	10:39	Mina Clavero 2	24.45 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	18: 51.2	77.81 km / h
	WP22	13:05	El Condor 2	16.81 km	Daniel Sordo	Citroën C4 WRC	13: 46.8	73.19 km / h
	WP23	15:05	Estadio Córdoba 2	2.40 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	2: 25.4	59.42 km / h

Source:

Individual evidence

1. ^ Motorsport-total.com: Tango in Buenos Aires , accessed on December 26, 2015
2. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Hirvonen after Kurz-Tag further ahead , accessed on December 26, 2015
3. ^ Motorsport-total.com: The big "Sébastien-Loeb-Show" , accessed on December 26, 2015
4. ↑ ewrc-results.com: 27th Rally Argentina 2007 , accessed on December 26, 2015

Web links

Commons : World Rally Championship 2007  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website