36. YPF Rally Argentina 2016
21. 4. – 24. 4. 2016, Córdoba • gravel 364.68 km • total distance including road sections - 1333.26 km • Other years
Info
SS18
"I almost can't believe it. I gave that stage absolutely everything! Huge thanks to everyone - and especially people following at home in New Zealand. I've been preparing for this stage for three weeks. In the past the tight and twisty stuff really didn't suit me."
"I'm happy with third. After Mexico I had to finish here."
"It was very rough, I didn't push to the maximum. Whatever the result It's been a great week for us and great to be here."
"We have done our best. We were well prepared and did the perfect job inside the car. I can be pleased with that. We will work hard before Portugal."
"A horrible weekend to be honest. Difficult to get a good rhythm with all the trouble we had. A good weekend for the team but not for us."
"Very good rally. We can do good times. Very fast on all the days. I am very happy. I hope to be back again next year."
"Job done. We are very happy to finish the rally without issues."
"I enjoyed this weekend. A lot of problems but we're here at the finish."
"I tried more here on the Power Stage. An improvement in my performance this week."
He has a front-left puncture. "We had it for the last seven kilometers."
stopped
SS17
"A very, very rough stage. Trying to find the balance between not breaking the car... ....very hard to gauge the speed. Not much more to say."
"A good stage for me, happy with my driving even if the car set-up wasn't the best."
"That should be fine. I took it easy in there, just controlling. I've saved my tyres for the Power Stage."
"I drove very cleanly. The road is rough so I didn't push. I want to get the points here."
"A clean run but the rear of the car is sliding around too much."
"A really good stage. The car is going well. We are on target, improving step-by-step."
"Normally this is one of the stages that I like to drive. Not this time."
"The road surface is either sand on top of rock or just rock."
"Really rough and slippery. Difficult to do a good time, but I had a good run."
SS16
"I couldn't see anything near the start. Very bad. I didn't want to make a mistake."
"A terrible stage. Conditions are absolutely incredible and the engine stalled a couple of times when we were braking for hairpins. Once it took me five seconds to restart. It's something we'll have to work around."
"Really tricky. Bad visibility and so many rocks on the road. This is not a stage where you want to push. I'm happy just to get through."
"We had a spin near the start and lost maybe 10 seconds. Really tricky."
"Unbelievable, conditions. Very difficult. I've never seen it like this."
"We were off the road. A little misunderstanding in the car. It's very difficult in the fog. There was a corner that I wasn't expecting. Spectators quickly got us back underway."
"The cloud is going up and down all the time so each driver gets different conditions."
"I couldn't see anything at the start."
"Very hard indeed. Not good to discover the stage like this!"
"I tried, but yesterday crash caused a lot of damage to the car and I have to be very careful with it now. I'm not at rally speed today. More like a high-speed recce."
stopped, moving again - slowly
"We took it easy this time."
"The last four or five kilometres are clear but at the beginning all I could see was the bonnet."
SS14
puncture
Front-right puncture. "I felt it three or four kilometres before the finish. We lost only about a minute."
"I saw Jari-Matti's car. It looks like a huge crash. I hope they are both okay."
"Sad to hear about Jari-Matti. He was doing well. For us no drama. We are in the comfort zone."
"For sure the second loop is more enjoyable. I should lose less than this morning."
"A good stage. A lot of movement from the rear of the car on these tyres."
went off on 21 km
SS13
"We rolled after a 90 degree left-hander. It took us a long time to get the car back. Then we had a flat tyre and now we have only two-wheel drive. I cannot believe my luck."
"A little bit better than earlier. The gearbox downshift problem is still there."
"We'll see if my (soft) tyre choice is the correct one. In this one they were okay. I'm not thinking about my rivals - I'm only thinking about my own driving."
SS11
stopped, puncture
stopped at 14.68km
"Trying to push this morning. A few moments in there - lucky to not get a puncture."
"I really liked it. A really good stage. I can't understand why sometimes they are bad and others are like this."
"An okay stage for me but a lot of cleaning. We could of course have pushed much harder but not without taking risks. The guys behind will be much faster."
"I pushed really hard because this is my favourite stage of the rally. We put a lot of energy into our recce for this one. A very good stage for us."
"I think I'm going to lose a lot here. I have no chance but I did my best. The stage is nice to drive but for sure we cannot fight."
SS10
"The power steering broke in the stage. So, so hard. My fingers are shaking." If he can't fix the problem himself he faces another 59km of stages before service.
"We tried our best but my side window is opening and directing a strong wind onto my face."
stopped at 4.5km.
stopped at the 16.5km
SS6
front-right puncture
"I know where I'm losing time and I know why. It's all down to experience - knowing where to push and where not to."
"No power at all. I don't know why - not good for sure."
"The car is working. All we can hope for now is to get back in the points."
"The battle is good but this stage is not one of my favourites. A lot of impacts in the ruts and I didn't want to push too much."
"I've cleaned up my driving a lot since this morning."
"A lot of stones around in there. Lots of impacts - really bad."
"I really enjoyed that stage, I had a very good rhythm in there. Quite happy."
"I'm happy with my stage. Happy with my car. I did everything I could. I expect the road will be rougher on the next stage."
SS4
"This morning the engine stopped many times and in here I had to get out and try to find a loose connection. The car has had problems since shakedown but I'm not sure they are the same."
"I went off in a muddy section after a watersplash and hit a bank. I had to stop and remove the broken radiator because the engine was overheating."
Maybe turbo problem
Problem with alternator
"A good stage. I remember it from the last time we drive it. Perhaps I was a little optimistic in some places!"
"This was more slippery than the other with a bit more loose gravel. It was a lot of fun sliding about but I didn't adjust my driving quickly enough."
stopped
"I had to be clever to try and save the car. I've never before finished Argentina without Super Rally..."
"A good stage, I'm very happy with my driving. The conditions were drier here."
SS3
Electrical problem
SS2
"Okay, but very rough and I think the car is too soft."
"Trying to get used to the car again. I enjoyed it, I will get quicker throughout the day."
"No confidence at all. I was just driving. I lost my confidence in the opening slippery section."
"Rough and tricky. I tried to go as fast as I could. Perhaps I pushed a little too hard. The car was moving around a lot."
"I think the road position isn't giving me any benefit. Maybe Saturday I'll get some."
"A terrible stage, I couldn't get any flow and the dust hanging in air meant I couldn't see the braking points. I'm really disappointed. I could have done more here."
"We touched a grass bank on a fast corner near the finish. A small mistake that cost us some time."
"Terrible. Not a good stage, so slippery. I didn't get the maximum speed out of many corners."
"Quite a good rhythm in some sections, not perfect in others."
"It was rough but better than I expected. The second pass will be more difficult. My car set-up is not the best, a bit too soft. The grip was better than I was expecting."
SS1
"I lost a good second with a small mistake after the jump. Good to be the fastest but the real job starts tomorrow A great atmosphere here tonight."
"This stage was okay but I nearly missed one turn."
"I'm feeling pretty good but this is nothing compared to the rest of the rally."
"Quite slippery, but good fun to slide the car around."
"I almost overshot a junction. I went wide and nearly stalled."
stall on the start line
"A tricky stage after no proper recce."
"It was very slippery but we tried our best - it felt like a good time."
"It feels good to be back in a World Rally Car. I love this rally. I will try my best!"
"The confidence is good. We want another event like Mexico."
"Not very good because we have no launch control. I was a bit nervous."