Daniel Oliveira will be aiming to maximise his experience of competing on rallies in Argentina’s Cordoba region when he resumes his world championship campaign at the wheel of his MINI in Villa Carlos Paz this week.
The 25-year-old Brazil World Rally Team ace has competed on selected national-level events in the Cordoba area and also took part on Rally Argentina in March 2010 when it ran outside of the WRC schedule.
“Since we started the season I’m really looking forward to this rally,” said Oliveira. “I feel at home in Argentina, I know the roads, I have many friends here and I am confident that many Brazilian fans will also be there cheering me. That’s why we decided to come with a new livery on the MINI, which shows the Brazilian and Argentinean flags together.”
For Oliveira, Rally Argentina marks his second appearance in the Prodrive-developed MINI John Cooper Works WRC following his debut in the machine on Rally d’Italia Sardegna earlier this month.
“This will be our second outing on board the WRC version and although we couldn’t complete many kilometres in Italy, we used Sunday’s stages to find the best set-up for this event which will be performed on a surface very similar to Sardinia,” explained Oliveira. “The idea is to take as much of the Thursday’s shakedown in order to prove how these changes work and make the final adjustments.”
Oliveira failed to finish Rally Argentina last season but co-driver Carlos Magalhaes came home in sixth overall with another driver.
“I have plenty of motivation for this race,” continued Oliveira. “However, the objective is to stick to the plan we set at the beginning of the season: finishing as many rallies as we can. If that happens we will be closer of getting more manufacturer points for the team.”
After five rounds Oliveira’s Brazil World Rally Team holds 10th spot in the WRC manufacturers’ standings.