Photo by: XPB Images
The toughness of the Traslasierra Valley complicates Oliveira
Daniel was forced to retire from the first day of action in Argentina
Day report. Daniel Oliveira and Carlos Magalhaes were forced to retire from Rally Argentina when he was close to complete the opening leg of this sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
After yesterday’s short exhibition on the Super Special stage the BWRT crew members started today the real race with a cautious approach to the Traslasierra Valley full of tough roads which were quite rotten even before the first cars kicked off the day.
It wasn’t an easy start for Oliveira since on SS2 he lost some time after hitting a rock that caused the suspension's break down. This situation kept on delaying him on the remaining stages although he could finally reach the Service Area in Carlos Paz.
On the first stage of the second loop the MINI John Cooper WRC enjoyed a trouble-free run that enabled Daniel to post a promising top-eleven in the time sheets on the second run through El Mirador section. Regrettably, on the next stage once again a broken suspension forced him to drop out of the race when he was just improving his pace.
It’s not over yet. The BWRT will take care of repairing the damage on Daniel’s MINI so as to enable him to compete tomorrow. Oliveira will re-join the race under the Super Rally regulations
Race conditions. The dust and the fog played an important role on Friday’s first loop. On the second run through the same three stages the issue was to cope with the ruts and the loose rocks.
Event info. The Finish driver Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) leads the Rally Argentina with a 18.2s advantage over Petter Solberg (Citroen). Sebastien Ogier (Citroen) comes in third position 10,8s behind the Norwegian.
Calamuchita Valley. The second leg will be disputed on the fast stages of the Calamuchita Valley located in the South of Carlos Paz. The drivers must tackle eight stages totalizing 159.66km. The first car on the road will be at 07:28 a.m.
The Brazil WRT driver Daniel Oliveira said:
“It has been a long day and with many situations that prevented us from giving ourselves fully on board the MINI John Cooper Works WRC.
On the first stage we hit a rock that damaged a suspension arm. In spite of this problem, we were able to complete the two remaining stages of the first loop. Then, on the final part of SS6 the suspension collapsed and so did our chances to keep on racing.
The idea is to carry the car to the Service Area and continue the rally tomorrow under the Super Rally system”.
-source: brazil wrt
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