The 2019 Rally Argentina (also known as the XION Rally Argentina 2019) was a
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...
event for
rally cars
Rally or rallye may refer to:
Gatherings
* Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade
* Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event
Sports ...
that held over four days between 25 and 28 April 2019.
It marked the thirty-ninth running of
Rally Argentina
The Rally Argentina ( es, Rally de Argentina) is an Argentine rally competition that has been a round of the World Rally Championship, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the South American Rally Championship and the Argentine Rally Championshi ...
, and was the fifth round of the
2019 World Rally Championship
The 2019 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-seventh season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. T ...
,
World Rally Championship-2
The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...
and the newly-created
WRC-2 Pro class. The 2019 event was based in
Villa Carlos Paz
Villa Carlos Paz () is a city in the center-north of the province of Córdoba, Argentina, in the south of the Punilla Valley, lying on the western slope of the Sierras Chicas. It has a population of about 56,000 as per the . The area of Punilla is ...
in
Córdoba Province and consisted of eighteen
special stages totalling competitive kilometres.
Ott Tänak
Ott Tänak (; born 15 October 1987) is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is competing for Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT.
Tänak achieved his maiden drivers' world title in t ...
and
Martin Järveoja
Martin Järveoja (; born 18 August 1987) is an Estonian rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Ott Tänak and is competing for Hyundai in the World Rally Championship.
Rally career
He is the son of Estonian politician Toomas Järveoja, ...
were the defending rally winners. Their team,
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT is a World Rally Championship (WRC) team based in Finland that serves as Toyota's official factory team. Its team principal is former WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala. The team made its début during the 2017 season, where ...
, were the manufacturers' winners.
Pontus Tidemand
Pontus Johan Tidemand (born 10 December 1990) is a Swedish rally and rallycross driver. He is the 2017 WRC-2 champion and a previous M-Sport and Škoda Motorsport driver. Pontus is the son of Swedish rally driver Tomas Tidemand and ex-rally co ...
and
Jonas Andersson were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not participate in the event.
Thierry Neuville
Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2013, 2016–20 ...
and
Nicolas Gilsoul
Nicolas Gilsoul (born 5 February 1982) is a Belgian rally co-driver. He is the former co-driver for Thierry Neuville. won the rally for the second time in their career. Their team,
Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, were the manufacturers' winners.
The
Citroën Total
Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired 8 ...
crew of
Mads Østberg
Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norwegian rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen.
Career
Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in which he finishe ...
and
Torstein Eriksen won the
WRC-2 Pro category, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category, while the crew of
Pedro Heller and
Marc Martí
Marc Martí Moreno (born 1 October 1966) is a Spanish rally co-driver.
Biography
He debuted in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as a co-driver to Oriol Gómez in 1992. In the 1999 season, he began his partnership with Jesús Puras and th ...
won the wider WRC-2 class.
Østberg's win marked the first World Championship victory for the
R5-spec Citroën C3.
Background
Championship standings prior to the event
Thierry Neuville
Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2013, 2016–20 ...
and
Nicolas Gilsoul
Nicolas Gilsoul (born 5 February 1982) is a Belgian rally co-driver. He is the former co-driver for Thierry Neuville. led both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships by two-points ahead of six-time world champions
Sébastien Ogier
Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champi ...
and
Julien Ingrassia
Julien Ingrassia (born 26 November 1979) is a retired French rally co-driver. Working with Sébastien Ogier, he became World Rally Champion in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 with Volkswagen Motorsport, 2017 and 2018 with M-Sport World Rally Team ...
.
Ott Tänak
Ott Tänak (; born 15 October 1987) is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is competing for Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT.
Tänak achieved his maiden drivers' world title in t ...
and
Martin Järveoja
Martin Järveoja (; born 18 August 1987) is an Estonian rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Ott Tänak and is competing for Hyundai in the World Rally Championship.
Rally career
He is the son of Estonian politician Toomas Järveoja, ...
were third, a further three points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers,
Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held a twelve-point lead over
Citroën Total WRT.
In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings,
Łukasz Pieniążek and
Kamil Heller held a twenty-two-point lead ahead of
Gus Greensmith
Fergus "Gus" Greensmith (born 26 December 1996) is a British rally driver.
Rally career
Greensmith's family owns fuel and lubricants distributor Crown Oil. A former youth goalkeeper for Manchester City F.C. and karter before moving into the ...
and
Elliott Edmondson in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively.
Kalle Rovanperä
Kalle Rovanperä (; born 1 October 2000 in Jyväskylä) is a Finnish professional rally driver, who competes in the World Rally Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. He is the reigning World Champion. As ...
and
Jonne Halttunen
Jonne Halttunen (born 13 December 1985) is a Finnish rally co-driver. Currently, he is the co-driver of Kalle Rovanperä, driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Previously, they represented Škoda Motorsport to participate in the World Rally ...
were third, four points further back. In the manufacturers' championship,
M-Sport Ford WRT
The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team (formerly M-Sport World Rally Team, Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team and Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team) is the privately run World Rally Championship team of M-Sport, the firm run by Malcolm Wilson that was previ ...
lead
Škoda Motorsport
Škoda Motorsport is the division of Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto responsible for motorsport activities. The team had competed as a manufacturer in the World Rally Championship between 1999 and 2005 and Intercontinental Rally Challenge (b ...
by sixty-six points, with
Citroën Total
Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired 8 ...
eleven points further behind in third.
In the World Rally Championship-2 standings,
Ole Christian Veiby and
Jonas Andersson led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by twelve points respectively.
Nikolay Gryazin
Nikolay Stanislavovich Gryazin (born 7 October 1997) is a Russian rally driver currently competing under a neutral flag representing the Russian Automobile Federation. He is the son of former rally driver Stanislav Gryazin and the younger broth ...
and
Yaroslav Fedorov were second, following by
Yoann Bonato and
Benjamin Boulloud in third.
Entry list
The following crews entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro and
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of twenty-seven entries were received, with ten crews entered with World Rally Cars and nine entered the World Rally Championship-2. Three crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class.
Route
No major changes are made to the route this year apart from some slight length-reductions to selected stages.
Itinerary
All dates and times are
ART
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
(
UTC-3).
Report
World Rally Cars
Normally, the road cleaner has to endure the insufficient grip, but this year in Argentina was different — persistent rain over the previous forty-eight hours meant the road was muddy and difficult to drive through for the crews who started down the road order. As a result, championship leader
Thierry Neuville
Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2013, 2016–20 ...
grabbed the lead as defending rally winner
Ott Tänak
Ott Tänak (; born 15 October 1987) is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is competing for Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT.
Tänak achieved his maiden drivers' world title in t ...
lost valuable time with a broken
drive shaft. The only casualty of the day was
Esapekka Lappi
Esapekka Lappi (born 17 January 1991) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2012 Finnish Rally Champion, 2014 European Rally Champion and the 2016 WRC-2 Champion.
Career 2012
Lappi won the 2012 Finnish Rally Championship with Ford Fiesta S2000 ...
, who was crashed out in the final stage of Friday and forced to retire from the rally.
Coming to the second leg, the battle for the victory was extremely intense until Tänak stopped his
Yaris due to an
alternator
An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.G ...
failure in the afternoon loop. Another casualty of the leg was
Elfyn Evans
Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Welsh rally driver. He is currently teamed with Scott Martin and is competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the World Rally Championship.
Career
The son of 1996 British Rally Championship Champion an ...
, who rolled his
Fiesta heavily after smashed a huge rock. As a result, the Welshman was forced to retire from the weekend. Defending world champion
Sébastien Ogier
Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champi ...
lost
power steering
A power steering is a mechanical device equipped on a motor vehicle that helps drivers steer the vehicle by reducing steering effort needed to turn the steering wheel, making it easier for the vehicle to turn or maneuver at lower speeds.
Hydraul ...
in the morning loop, while
Kris Meeke
Kris Meeke (born 2 July 1979) is a Northern Irish professional rally driver, best known for competing in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). He was the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. His co-driver is Seb Marshall, also B ...
lost his
brake
A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction.
Backgroun ...
s. Following the drivers ahead suffered issues,
Andreas Mikkelsen
Andreas Mikkelsen (born 22 June 1989) is a Norwegian rally driver. He is currently competing in the World Rally Championship-2 for Toksport World Rally Team. He previously drove for the factory teams of Volkswagen, Citroën and Hyundai in the W ...
charged himself to second overall after the oil-leak issue fixed. Eventually, the
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups:
* Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested
** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company
** Hyundai As ...
duos managed to bring their team a 1-2 finish.
Ogier completed the podium as Meeke receive a ten-second penalty for deviating from the correct route in Saturday morning's speed test.
Classification
Special stages
Championship standings
World Rally Championship-2 Pro
Mads Østberg
Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norwegian rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen.
Career
Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in which he finishe ...
comfortably led the rally despite a
puncture
Puncture, punctured or puncturing may refer to:
* a flat tyre in British English (US English "flat tire" or just "flat")
* a penetrating wound caused by pointy objects as nails or needles
* Lumbar puncture, also known as a spinal tap
* Puncture ...
, over four minutes ahead of eighteen-year-old driver
Marco Bulacia Wilkinson
Marco Bulacia Wilkinson (born 27 September 2000) is a Bolivian rally driver. He currently partners with co-driver Marcelo Der Ohannesian in the WRC-2 category. His younger brother Bruno is a rally driver also.
Rally career
Bulacia Wilkinson ma ...
, who won all three afternoon stages.
Gus Greensmith
Fergus "Gus" Greensmith (born 26 December 1996) is a British rally driver.
Rally career
Greensmith's family owns fuel and lubricants distributor Crown Oil. A former youth goalkeeper for Manchester City F.C. and karter before moving into the ...
failed to complete the first leg with a broken front
suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspen ...
.
In the end, Østberg comfortably won his second victory of the season, following by Greensmith, who re-join the rally on Saturday.
Bulacia Wilkinson rolled his
Fabia at the opening stage, which forced to retire from the rally in leg two.
Classification
Special stages
Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.
Championship standings
World Rally Championship-2
The first leg produced four different leaders in progress.
Takamoto Katsuta was the first leader, but a
puncture
Puncture, punctured or puncturing may refer to:
* a flat tyre in British English (US English "flat tire" or just "flat")
* a penetrating wound caused by pointy objects as nails or needles
* Lumbar puncture, also known as a spinal tap
* Puncture ...
and broken
wheel rim deposited his
Fiesta into a ditch;
Kajetan Kajetanowicz
Kajetan Kajetanowicz (born 5 March 1979) is a Polish rally driver.
Titles
He is a Four time Poland Rally Champion (2010 2011, 2012, 2013). In 2012 he became champion in the Central European Zone Rally Championship.
He also became the ERC ...
was the second leader, but he broke his rear
suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspen ...
after landing heavily over a jump;
Alberto Heller
Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Alberti ...
was the third leader, but he stopped in the penultimate test when his
Fiesta's engine auxiliary belt broke. Eventually, the fourth leader
Pedro Heller topped the category by almost six minutes after a day of attrition.
Having a trouble-free Saturday, Pedro took the victory after overcame a big scare that the car stopped less than one kilometer from the finish of the iconic
El Condór special stage.
Classification
Special stages
Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.
Championship standings
Notes
References
External links
*
* 2019
Rally Argentina
The Rally Argentina ( es, Rally de Argentina) is an Argentine rally competition that has been a round of the World Rally Championship, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the South American Rally Championship and the Argentine Rally Championshi ...
i
''e-wrc website''* Th
official websiteof the
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. There are separate championships ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rally Argentina, 2019
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...
2019 in Argentine motorsport
April 2019 sports events in South America
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...