Team News Update

(May 6, 2007) 9pm. Today was an extremely challenging day for Travis and Christian. The crew tackled 563.07km , including 159.16km of competition divided into 9 stages.

The first problem arose when they hit a watersplash and the car ingested some water, causing it to stall and sputter for the rest of the stage, losing the duo precious time. But Pastrana and Edstrom kept a level head and were setting times near the top 10 all afternoon.

Midway through the final stage of the day Saturday the real drama hit. Pastrana explained that he hit a rock on the inside of the road that launched the car into the air, and over to the right side of the road. Upon landing, the right side of the car impacted a berm and subsequently broke the right rear trailing link. With the trailing link broken the right rear wheel was free to toe in and out, making the car swing wildly from the rear.

Pastrana struggled to the stage finish, but then a long 80km+ transt to the service park awaited him. The duo pulled over after the stage finish and repaired the rear trailing link with parts and tools they carry within the car. Twenty minutes later they were on their way back to their SRT USA service crew based in Carlos Paz. The final service of the day was a hectic one for SRT USA technicians, as the beating the car took today meant numerous parts needed to be changed or repaired. Check out Christian Edstrom's blog photos to see for yourself.

Pastrana finished the day in 11th position in the P-WRC, but may move up starting Sunday as several other P-WRC encountered serious problems on the final stage as well any may not return to action on Sunday.


Team News Update  

(May 4, 2007) 11pm. All special stages were canceled today due to the logistical problems associated with getting the drivers back to Cordoba from Buenos Aires last night.  One stadium stage was run in Cordoba however.  Pastrana and Edstrom had an easy time at the stage and now sit in 13th overall in the P-WRC standings (out of 23) heading into a full day of stages tomorrow (Saturday).

(May 4, 2007) 4:30pm local time. Travis and Christian have arrived via plane to Cordoba and are now back at their hotel. . They are tired but glad to be done with the whole ordeal.

All of today's stages have been canceled due to the delayed plane. However, the Cordoba stadium stage will be run tonight as originally scheduled.

(May 4, 2007) 11:00am Last night (Thursday) the rally kicked off in Buenos Aires, 700km east of host city Cordoba, with a short run through the River Plate Soccer stadium. All of the rally cars were first transported overnight Wednesday to Buenos Aires for the stadium stage via massive car transporters. (Check out the blog for photos!) Meanwhile all the WRC drivers flew to Buenos Aires from Cordoba via chartered jets early thursday morning.

Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom ran clean and smooth through the short stadium course, finishing 13th among the 23 P-WRC drivers. With the course being so short, at just 2.4km, the times between the P-WRC drivers were all fairly close, Pastrana was under five seconds slower than the top P-WRC driver of the evening Leszek Kuzaj of Subaru Rally Team Poland. The stadium stage was broadcast live across Argentina and it seemed any television that was on was tuned to ESPN for the live coverage.

Immediately following the stadium stage the rally cars were loaded back onto the transporters and driven overnight back to Carlos Paz where they were unloaded and put into Parc Ferme (a holding area) at approximately 8:40AM Friday morning, on schedule. But where are the drivers? As the cars were being unloaded some drivers had still not arrived back to Carlos Paz!

The facts are still trickling in here to the team hotel in Carlos Paz, but it seems late last night the Buenos Aires airport lost their radar and no flights could depart. The drivers waited and waited in the airport all night. Then at about 3am the three planes departed for Cordoba. Two planes landed safely at about 4am, but the 3rd chartered jet, which included Pastrana/Edstrom had to turn around and fly back to Buenos Aires! It is unconfirmed, but either weather (fog) or another radar problem was the culprit. As of 11am this morning that 3rd and final plane is still in Beunos Aires waiting for heavy fog at Cordoba airport to lift! Without that final plane load of drivers the rally can not run as planned today.

The original schedule of stages for Friday is now changed, and most of today's stages will be canceled. However at the time of this news report rally officials were determining if the final two originally scheduled special stages as well as the end of day Cordoba stadium stage could be run as planned.

We'll provide another update as soon as possible. And we can't wait to see the blog photos that Christian Edstrom took in Buenos Aires over the past 24 hours!


Travis Pastrana and Subaru Rally Team USA Gear Up For Rally Argentina  

(May 2, 2007) Subaru Rally Team USA will tackle the legendary Rally Argentina, round six of the World Rally Championship, and the 2nd event on team's Production World Rally Championship (P-WRC)  program  this weekend, May 3-6. This will be only the second WRC event in Pastrana's young career, after his debut at Corona Rally Mexico in March where he finished an impressive 5th overall in the P-WRC.  Subaru Rally Team USA will attend Rally Argentina with the same American based team of mechanics and management that handle their assault on the Rally America National Championship, where Pastrana reigns as the defending national champion.  Pastrana and his co-driver Christian Edstrom will pilot a Group N Class 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI in Argentina, rather than his usual Open Class ride in the USA.  Subaru Rally Team USA will compete in three WRC events this year in preparation of a full P-WRC calendar of six global events in 2008 and 2009.  

Rally Argentina is based in Villa Carlos Paz - a small lakeside town near the large city of Cordoba.  The all gravel event is known for rough roads and dramatic water crossings.  Several of the stages are run at high altitude, some approaching 2200meters, where the thin air will sap the cars of power.    Speeds are typically high, but the stages feature numerous bumps and dips that will test the rally car's suspension and the driver's mettle.  Drivers must also contend with large rocks embedded in the hard road surface that have been known to tear wheels off!  These challenges are all compounded by the highly unpredictable weather.

"We will take the same approach here as in Mexico," stated Pastrana. "This year is all about practice with making our own stage notes and adjusting to everything, so we absolutely must finish! The roads here are real car breakers and there will be a huge amount of competition in the P-WRC, but we want to just drive our own rally at our own pace.  The fans here are great, the rally is still a few days ahead of us but there are already thousands of people everywhere screaming my name!"   

A highlight this year will be a new Super Special Stage held at the River Plate Soccer Stadium in the capital city of Buenos Aires on Thursday evening. Two other similar stages will be held in the Soccer Stadium in Cordoba on Friday and on Sunday. These stadium based stages will attract even more fans to Rally Argentina, which typically enjoys well over one million spectators!

Rally Argentina can be followed live at www.wrc.com with live split times and video.