The event starts in San Juan on Saturday, August 26th and finishes in San Miguel de Tucumán on Thursday, August 31st.
The Argentinean duo of Sebastien Halpern and Eduardo Pulenta will drive the first of two Toyota Hiluxes, while Paraguay’s Blas Zapag teams up with fellow countryman Felix Morales Rotela in a second Copetrol Rally Team car.
Bolivian driver Rodrigo Gutiérrez and Croatian navigator Tomislav Glavic head straight to San Juan from Chile’s Atacama event to continue their quest for honours in the CODASUR Cross-Country Rally Championship.
Argentinean driver Emiliano Spataro claimed a narrow victory over Gutiérrez at Desafio Ruta Sur back in April and Halpern was fourth in the second of the team’s Toyota Hiluxes.
But Gutiérrez teamed up with Glavic to claim a stunning victory in Paraguay’s Desafio Guarani, round two of the CODASUR series last month. The team’s Paraguayan duo of Zapag and Rolfi Morales made it a South Racing 1-2 finish and that sets the scene for a thrilling contest through north-western Argentina.
After technical and administration checks at the Aldo Cantoni stadium in San Juan, the action on the second round of the Argentine cross-country series begins with a Prologue stage on Saturday evening (August 26th). Teams then tackle the first of the longer stages to Villa Unión in La Rioja Province on Sunday (August 27th).
The route organised by Eventos SA then continues in a northerly direction to the city of Tinogasta in the Catamarca Province on August 28th and on to Belén the following day.
From Belén, the route heads into the province of Tucumán on August 30th for a night stop over in the Calchaqui Valley at Tafi del Valle before the final run into San Miguel de Tucumán on August 31st.
