This year's Rally Argentina reaches its finale on one of the most legendary stages in the WRC, the 16-kilometre test from El Condor to Copina. Famous for its barren lunar landscape, 2,200-metre altitude and treacherous rock-lined road, the stage is a stern challenge for drivers and engineers alike and has claimed many high profile victims in the past. Before crews tackle the stage, Subaru team Principal David Lapworth and SWRT Chief Engine Development Engineer Nick Dennish explained more:

Nick Dennish: "Essentially WRC cars become asthmatic at the altitudes we will be seeing on El Condor. The engine needs more air, but since the FIA 34mm air restrictor on turbo the limits the amount of air it can take in, we need to alter the engine settings via a different management programme or 'map' to optimise performance with the air we have available. Since there is reduced air pressure, the car needs less fuel to maintain optimum power, but we make other modifications to cope with this unusual environment. We advance the ignition to improve response and power and raise the compression ratios slightly. In the thinner air the turbo will spin more quickly, so we alter its settings to maintain an optimum speed to prevent wasting energy or damaging the unit. We initially developed and tested our high altitude map in the dyno cells at the SWRT headquarters in England, before introducing and fine-tuning it in Mexico and Turkey - both of which are high altitude events."

David Lapworth: "There's a natural tendency for people to focus solely on the high altitude, but for me it's the nature of the stage which is perhaps more significant. It's a very difficult stage for the drivers to get right, with almost no margin for error. Combine this with the pressure of it being a final stage and historically it's often been the turning point of the event. Over the years there have been many dramatic moments and the rally has been won and lost on this stage."

Argentinean tennis player and long-time fan of rallying, David Nalbandian joined Petter Solberg, Mikko Hirvonen and members of the Subaru World Rally Team at a Corona Extra party in Cordoba on Wednesday evening.

David, who was born in Unquillo, Cordoba, also played a tennis match against Carlos Sainz just prior to the rally. Lets hope that for Carlos's scoreline the game was played after David had been to the SWRT and Corona party!