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7 Machines Supported by TEIN Entered in South American Round
K. Sohlberg with the Most Points Retired, and A. Drosinskiy Finished 11th
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 After the still freshly remembered races in Sweden and Mexico, the 3rd round of P-WRC (Production car World Rally Championship) in 2007 was held in Argentina, the huge peninsula of South American continent. The hosting city was Cordoba, the second largest city in central Argentina. The stages near Cordoba varied from narrow and tricky grounds to high-speed zone on hard bedrock. This season was held in such a big scale that Super SS was held in the capital city, Buenos Aires, located about 700km southeast of Cordoba.
Although the event was held outside Europe, 23 elite machines entered into this race. 6 of them were TEIN-supported machines: S.Pavlides (#37, SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F) and K.Sohlberg from SYMS RALLY TEAM (#38, SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F), L.Kuzaj from SUBARU POLAND RALLY TEAM (#41, SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F), A.Drosinskiy from SUBARU RALLY TEAM RUSSIA (#42 SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F), S. Vojtek (#49 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX) and P. Flodin (#50 SUBARU IMPREZA GDB-F) from STOHL RACING. Although not nominated for P-WRC this season, C. David (#72 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX) entered in Group N (production car).
The gorgeous opening of the Rally on May 3rd took place at the River Plate Soccer Stadium in Buenos Aires with Super SS event. The rough weather that night must have been a bad omen of the upcoming race. 7 stages got canceled the next day due to the delayed flights back to Cordoba. The outcome of the race was not what we expected: K.Sohlberg who was placed first in the ra |
The third round of P-WRC, Rally Argentina started out on May 3rd with Super SS held in Buenos Aires. Over 25,000 galleries gathered in the River Plate Soccer Stadium to celebrate. Kuzaj, one of TEIN supported drivers, was the one who finished with top time in this event. Due to PRC (Poland Rally Championship) held on April 27 and 28, he was unable to attend the test during rally week; however, after setting up the machine with TEIN suggestions, he won the opening stage. David also followed him, beating the top ranking drivers, and Vojtek placed in 4th. Everything looked perfect for TEIN supported teams up till then.
All the competitors were to return from Buenos Aires to Cordoba by a chartered airplane after Super SS and compete in the main race starting off the next day. However, the rough weather delayed the flight schedules tremendously, and there was no choice but to cancel 7 out of the 8 stages that were scheduled on the 4th.
Despite such conditions, David performed well in Super SS in Cordoba, and had placed in top position of Group N including P-WRC. The Rally was again an extremely demanding one to survive, in which TEIN supported crews backed off from the top group.
 Sohlberg won SS10, the very first stage on 5th. He then damaged the steering rod in SS11 right afterwards, went off the course and retired. The winner of the opening event, Kuzaj suffered a damage to the control arm during the loop in the morning, ending up in a retire. Vojtek and David also had to slow down due to machine troubles. Flodin, who tested on gravel surfaces in Australia for a couple days, had confidence until he hit the gate in SS13. He gave up the race that day and joined the group of re-start in Super Rally.
On May 6th, Pavlides who was showing his constant driving through Leg 1 and 2 hit a stone in Leg 3, and retired from this race. As a result, Drosinskiy's 11th place was the best of TEIN supported teams, with Vojtek and Flodin following in 12th and 13th place, and David finishing 22nd in Group N.
The upside of this race was Flodin's time in SS23, which was the fastest among group N machines, and even considering WR cars, he has shown an amazing performance and placed in 4th! All of our drivers caught a good feeling from this rally, so we look forward for some outstanding performance by TEIN supported teams in Acropolis Rally coming up next.
Comments from TEIN engineer (TEIN R&D Section/Mr. Ippei Sugano)
"We tried to set up a flexible tuning for the rough courses, which was far from the solid surface of Argentina. Despite the pre-testing that went fairly well, TEIN supported teams suffered from unlucky situations just like everyone else in the race. However, we gained so much from the setting aspect, far more than what's shown in the results. We had adjusted the dampers for Drosinskiy who finished 11th, in order to suite the road conditions. As a result, he picked up his pace from Leg 2. We have received some good comments from other drivers, too, regarding our flexible settings to be competitive on soft surface. Our next stage, Acropolis will be like an extension round of Rally Argentina, so we'll know what to do next. Until then, we would like to consider a more in-depth set up for each team." |
| Pos. |
No. |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
Diff |
Remarks |
| 1 |
60 |
Federico Villagra
Diego Curletto |
MISTUBISHI LANCER
EvoIX CT9A |
3:08:53.7 |
|
overall 9th |
| 2 |
31 |
Toshihiro ARAI
Tony SIRCOMBE |
SUBARU IMPREZA
GDB-F |
3:09:03.0 |
+9.3 |
overall 10th |
| 3 |
36 |
Juho Haninnen
Mikko Makkula |
MITSUBISHI LANCER
Evo IX CT9A |
3:09:21.9 |
+028.2 |
overall 11th |
| 11 |
42 |
Alexander Dorosinskiy
Dmitry Eremeev |
SUBARU IMPREZA
GDB-F |
3:32:03.8 |
+16:24.2 |
TEIN Gr.N Damper
overall 24th |
| 12 |
49 |
Štěpán VOJTĚCH
Michal ERNST |
MITSUBISHI LANCER
Evo IX CT9A |
3:32:03.8 |
+23:10.1 |
TEIN Gr.N Damper
overall 25th |
| 13 |
50 |
Patrik Flodin
Maria Andersson |
MITSUBISHI LANCER
Evo IX CT9A |
3:39:18.3 |
+30:44.6 |
TEIN Gr.N Damper
overall 29th |
| 22 |
72 |
Claudiu Stefan David
Mihaela Eva Beldie |
MITSUBISHI LANCER
Evo IX CT9A |
3:53:11.9 |
+44:18.2 |
TEIN Gr.N Damper
overall 33rd |
| R |
37 |
Pavlides SPYROS
Denis GIRAUDET |
SUBARU IMPREZA
GDB-F |
4:34:23.7 |
+25:39.2 |
TEIN Gr.N Damper
Retirements
(Mechanical TC 21) |
| R |
41 |
Leszek KUZAJ
Jarek BARAN |
SUBARU IMPREZA
GDB-F |
- |
- |
TEIN Gr.N Damper
Retirements
(Mechanical TC 18D) |
| R |
38 |
Kristian SOHLBERG
Risto PIETILÄINEN |
SUBARU IMPREZA
GDB-F |
- |
- |
TEIN Gr.N Damper
Retirements
(Mechanical SF 12) |
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