The second round of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), the “Rally International de Curitiba” was held from March 5-7 around the city of Curitiba, Brazil. The city was much excited as it hosted two big events on the same weekend, one on gravel and the other on tarmac where held the opening round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (Organised also by Eurosport as the IRC) on the following day of the rally finish.

The rally was taken place on the high-speed gravel roads around Curitiba. The roads were smooth though numerous blinded crests suffered drivers who need require more challenge. Totalling 216.93km, 15 stages were set, though one 15km stage on day 2, which was to be used twice, was cancelled due to the rain flooding on the road. Also, the organiser decided to remove the final Super SS (SS15) from the official classification before the start so the stage was run for promotional purposes only.

For the Rally de Curitiba, Uruguayan Juan San Martin entered with a SUBARU Impreza WRX STI. He showed stable driving including two 10th-fastest stage times, maintaining 11th position overall throughout the two-day event. He moved up to 10th finished after an engine failure befell by a competitor ahead which the order changed. San Martin was awarded the SUBARU IRC Challenge as the highest-finishing SUBARU entry. The overall winner of the event was British driver Kris Meeke in a Peugeot 207 on S2000.

“I am very pleased to have finished the rally in such a good position because it was not an easy event due to the rain making some of the stages quite difficult,” San Martin commented.

The next round of the IRC, round 3 will be held in Argentina, again on the South American Continent. “Rally Argentina” will be held from 19-21 March in Villa Carlos Paz, the second largest city in the country.