| Rally Argentina (26-29 April), the fifth round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship, is a firm favourite on the calendar with its spectacular scenery and passionate fans who flock to the stages for a week-long fiesta. Vast plains, rugged mountains, rock-strewn tracks and many river crossings await the crews and, with its early autumn slot in the calendar, the potential for fog and even ice high in the mountains adds to what is already an immense and diverse challenge.
Nowhere else do the World Rally Championship contenders receive such a warm and vibrant welcome from motor sport fanatics as they do in Argentina. They turn out in their tens of thousands, camping along the route and creating a carnival atmosphere with their tents, campervans and barbeques. For South America’s round of the Championship, Citroën, Hyundai, M-Sport Ford and Toyota have all nominated three crews to potentially score points and there are 10 entries in the fiercely contested FIA WRC 2 Championship category. Five stages will be broadcast live on television; SSS1, SS10/14, SS16 and the Power Stage, while all stages are live on WRC All Live on the WRC+ platform. THE 2018 ROUTE This year only three stages have run in previous editions of Rally Argentina, so with three new stages and modifications to all others, the 2018 route will present a slightly different challenge for the competing crews. The first new stage is on the opening night at the Villa Carlos Paz super special stage before the route takes the contenders south to the fast and sandy stages in the Calamuchita Valley on Friday. Saturday, to the west and into the Punilla Valley, takes in two identical loops of three stages, the first, Tanti-Mataderos, and third, Cuchilla Nevada-Rio Pintos, being new. A mid-day run around a super special stage rounds off the day’s itinerary. Sunday is a classic and heads to the rock-strewn roads in the Traslasierra Mountains, famed for their moonlike landscapes. The legendary El Cóndor and Giulio Cesare stages are run in reverse direction this year, the second run through El Cóndor counting as the Power Stage. |
