Monday saw the P-WRC competitors take part in the pre-event test, set on roads near Cordoba, and indicative of the stages to be used this weekend. Conditions on the loop featured dusty, loose packed gravel over bumpy terrain on fast, flowing roads. The weather was sunny at the start of the day and about six degrees Celsius, but then clouded over. Temperatures slowly climbed to about 15 degrees by lunchtime, and then the sun burst out and it soared to 22 or 23 degrees.

Among the drivers taking part were Toshi Arai, Nasser Al Attiyah, Gabor Mayer and Spyros Pavlides. Gabriele Pozzo is entered as one of the two points-paying guest driver, and both he and Gabor Mayer are renting new-shape Imprezas from Barattero for this event. With his vast experience of the stages, local man Pozzo was not at Monday’s test.
Nasser spent all day with his engineer in the car, fine-tuning the machine. Judging by his expression, he seemed very happy with the day’s work and was running incredibly well.

Toshi likewise had a good day’s test, reporting to be very happy with the car’s set-up. He started off with a stable car and developed it throughout the day. The team conducted all their regular running changes, including putting the spare gearbox in the car in the afternoon to make sure everything was functioning properly.

Gabor Mayer spent the morning acclimatizing to the test road, reporting to be satisfied with both his car and their progress in the morning, before they packed up at lunchtime. Spyros Pavlides also had a good day’s testing, working on car set-up and getting in valuable mileage and conducting lots of function checks throughout the day.
Though it’s bright and sunny now, this time of year in Argentina can potentially be cold, windy and wet. At the moment however, the weather is holding.

STI GpN Project General Manager George Donaldson:
“We’ve had a great day’s testing for all the drivers. Gabor finished at lunchtime, while Nasser, Spyros and Toshi all were at it until four o’clock, so it was a serious day’s testing, the drivers getting as much mileage as they wanted.

We’re in for an interesting and varied Rally Argentina - as usual. The weather is going to be a contributing factor if the summer conditions break for proper autumn climes, meaning it can end up being a very cold, muddy and wet event. That said, there’s the chance of it remaining warm like it is now.

The rally’s going to be tough; it’s a hard event. This is not so much a coarse event in terms of lots of loose, rough and deep gravel. This rally can be hard because there are big bumps and if you hit a rock on the road in Argentina, there’s probably about another kilometre of it below the road. These have been the cause of many a rally car retirement over the years. If it’s wet it’s going to be incredibly hard; if it’s dry it’s going to be just as difficult - but in a different way. Dust can be a factor here so it’s very important for the drivers to have their pace notes really nicely done on the recce. Also, in the early mornings it can be foggy, and this in combination with the dust can be ugly. We’re expecting to be very much in the fight with Toshi, Nasser and Gabriele Pozzo. Statistically, we’ve got three drivers punching heavy weights and have a chance to win this event, so we have to hope that their combined strategy can yield us the dream result of a 1-2-3 on the podium.

SUBARU have a great reputation here. Nasser was very much on the pace here last year, despite a problem on the first day which put him out of contention. We know the new car works here, and we’re coming with it fully sorted. It’s up the drivers now to shepherd their cars to the finish and I’m sure we’ll get the result.”