Skoda’s factory IRC team will contest the next two South American rounds of the championship, the Czech firm has announced today.

Beyond admitting it will run an expanded IRC programme this year, Skoda has not yet finalised its precise plans for 2010 – but Juho Hanninen and Jan Kopecky will make the trip across the Atlantic for the Curitiba Rally and Rally Argentina in March.

Skoda did not contest the Brazilian event last season, but it has competed on the WRC-qualifying Rally Argentina four times, with its best 2002 result coming in Carlos Paz when Toni Gardemeister placed his Octavia WRC in fifth place.

Skoda spokesperson Karel Pokorny said: “We will run two cars in Brazil and Argentina. Skoda has some experience in Argentina from the World Rally Championship but we have never been to Brazil so that will be something new.

“We saw last year the pace of the Fabia Super 2000 on gravel on the [rallies in] Azores and Russia and we hope this will continue when we go to Brazil and Argentina.”

Kimi Raikkonen insists he has no particular target in mind for his first competitive outing at the wheel of the Citroen C4 WRC on this weekend’s Arctic Rally, after completing the shakedown yesterday.

The 2007 Formula 1 world champion is using the first round of the Finnish championship as a warm-up for his inaugural World Rally Championship campaign with the Citroen Junior Team, which gets underway in Sweden in a fortnight’s time.

Joining him on the event is Citroen’s factory driver Dani Sordo, who will provide a useful benchmark a near-identical car.

“I don’t have any special target,” said Raikkonen at the pre-rally press conference in Rovaniemi. “This is just for learning. We will just drive and see how we are. There are many things to find out.”

According to his co-driver Kaj Lindstrom, Raikkonen’s biggest challenge will be learning to use pace notes: “You need the confidence to trust and commit to the notes,” he said. “This is where we will improve most. But I have no doubt that Kimi has the speed.”

Raikkonen completed yesterday’s shakedown stage without any problems, taking just two runs through what will be his final preparation before his inaugural rally in the Citroen.

Raikkonen and Sordo will face little opposition on the event, as the overwhelming majority of entrants are driving Group N machinery. The opening stage of the rally gets underway at 12:23 (local time) today. The first car is due to enter parc ferme after leg one at 21:12 tonight.

The conditions for the event are perfect, with temperatures hovering around -20C and snow still falling.

Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson has tipped double World Rally champion Marcus Gronholm for a podium finish when the Finn returns to WRC action on the Swedish Rally next month.

Gronholm will drive for the Stobart VK M-Sport team and has been nominated to score points for the Cumbrian-based squad on the 2010 season opener. Gronholm, who retired from the sport at the end of 2007, made a one-off appearance on last year’s Rally of Portugal, driving a Subaru Impreza WRC.

Wilson said: “I still think that Marcus can be very quick in Sweden. It’s his favourite rally, he’s kept himself in good shape. Okay, he’s probably not as match fit as these other guys but with it being the event that it is, and going into the stages that he’s been in before where the other guys haven’t, I have no doubt he can finish on the podium.”

With the Stobart squad running as a WRC team rather than a fully fledged manufacturer outfit, Gronholm’s car has to be a year behind in terms of homologation, meaning he will drive a 2008-specification Focus.

Wilson continued: “That’s [the Focis RS WRC 08] as much as you can run with an M2 team. But even so, we’re still very confident with that car that Marcus will be able to mix it with the other guys.”

Six-time title-winner Sebastien Loeb has a Formula 1 champion for company in the World Rally Championship this year with the addition of Kimi Raikkonen to Citroen’s line-up.

As the Finn prepared for his first rally in a WRC car in this week’s Arctic event, AUTOSPORT heard Loeb’s thoughts on his new stablemate’s chances in 2010 and beyond.

Q. Have you met Kimi yet?

Sebastien Loeb: No, I haven’t met him really. I don’t know him at the moment. I will be delighted to meet him, he looks like a cool man and I’m sure we will get on well.

Q. What about these stories that, if all goes well for him this year, he could be your team-mate next season?

SL: That’s something I don’t have to decide on. Olivier [Quesnel, Citroen team boss] will take the best drivers for the car next year. And if he is good this year, then why not?

I am happy he is here in the sport. I think he can be good for the rally. It’s great to have his name with us, there’s a really good story for you and the media. It’s something exciting for us.

Q. What will he be good at this year?

SL: Driving fast! He is a natural driver. Look at what he achieved in Formula 1. For sure, he will be able to drive fast on the road he knows.

Q. What will he struggle with this year?

SL: I don’t know for sure, but probably the most difficult thing for him will be to drive fast when he doesn’t know the road and he has only seen the road while driving slowly two times before. Making precise notes is really important for him this year.

Q. And what do you think of the WRC in general before the start of this season?

SL: I feel that, today, it’s only two manufacturers and that’s not so good. Okay, for me, the two manufacturers we have in the sport are the best two and they are both very competitive – which makes for a nice battle at a very high level.

The cars are very good, and the drivers are not so bad, the level of competition is very tough. I think the thing we could do better is to get some more manufacturers.

Six-time title-winner Sebastien Loeb has a Formula 1 champion for company in the World Rally Championship this year with the addition of Kimi Raikkonen to Citroen’s line-up.

As the Finn prepared for his first rally in a WRC car in this week’s Arctic event, AUTOSPORT heard Loeb’s thoughts on his new stablemate’s chances in 2010 and beyond.

Q. Have you met Kimi yet?

Sebastien Loeb: No, I haven’t met him really. I don’t know him at the moment. I will be delighted to meet him, he looks like a cool man and I’m sure we will get on well.

Q. What about these stories that, if all goes well for him this year, he could be your team-mate next season?

SL: That’s something I don’t have to decide on. Olivier [Quesnel, Citroen team boss] will take the best drivers for the car next year. And if he is good this year, then why not?

I am happy he is here in the sport. I think he can be good for the rally. It’s great to have his name with us, there’s a really good story for you and the media. It’s something exciting for us.

Q. What will he be good at this year?

SL: Driving fast! He is a natural driver. Look at what he achieved in Formula 1. For sure, he will be able to drive fast on the road he knows.

Q. What will he struggle with this year?

SL: I don’t know for sure, but probably the most difficult thing for him will be to drive fast when he doesn’t know the road and he has only seen the road while driving slowly two times before. Making precise notes is really important for him this year.

Q. And what do you think of the WRC in general before the start of this season?

SL: I feel that, today, it’s only two manufacturers and that’s not so good. Okay, for me, the two manufacturers we have in the sport are the best two and they are both very competitive – which makes for a nice battle at a very high level.

The cars are very good, and the drivers are not so bad, the level of competition is very tough. I think the thing we could do better is to get some more manufacturers.

Six-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb has given his fellow Citroen driver Kimi Raikkonen a vote of confidence ahead of the Finn’s competitive debut in a C4 WRC on this week’s Arctic Rally.

Loeb says there is no doubting the former Formula 1 champion’s speed and added that he expected him to be competitive this season.

Raikkonen will get an early taste of the pace of a WRC round when he goes head-to-head with Loeb’s number two Dani Sordo on the Rovaniemi-based event, which starts tomorrow.

“It’s very difficult to say straight away how he will get on,” said Loeb. “What we can look at is what he did on Rally Finland last year, when he was close to the pace in the Group N class – this was very good.

“It’s easy to see he can drive the car, there’s no doubting he’s a very good driver. He’s a Finn, he has been brought up on slippery surfaces and I’m sure he was playing around on them for a long time, it’s natural that he will be good like the other Finnish drivers.”

The Arctic Rally will be a continuation of the two-day test which Raikkonen conducted at the end of last week, close to Jyvaskyla in central Finland. The event includes 12 stages and finishes on Saturday afternoon.

Raikkonen said: “I got to know the C4 a little bit during a test session close to the Citroen Racing workshops. This rally is a very good opportunity for me to work with the team in competitive conditions and continue my learning curve with the car. I took part in this rally last year with [co-driver] Kaj [Lindstrom] and as the route is largely the same I think that could help us a bit.”

Citroen Racing Technologies team manager Benoit Nogier, the man who will run Raikkonen’s C4 this season, added: “This experience will be as useful to the team as it will be to the individual crews. Kimi will drive a C4 WRC in identical specification to the one that he will race over the rest of the season.

“Similarly, the crew of technicians in Rovaniemi will remain on his car for the remainder of the year.”

Six-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb has given his fellow Citroen driver Kimi Raikkonen a vote of confidence ahead of the Finn’s competitive debut in a C4 WRC on this week’s Arctic Rally.

Loeb says there is no doubting the former Formula 1 champion’s speed and added that he expected him to be competitive this season.

Raikkonen will get an early taste of the pace of a WRC round when he goes head-to-head with Loeb’s number two Dani Sordo on the Rovaniemi-based event, which starts tomorrow.

“It’s very difficult to say straight away how he will get on,” said Loeb. “What we can look at is what he did on Rally Finland last year, when he was close to the pace in the Group N class – this was very good.

“It’s easy to see he can drive the car, there’s no doubting he’s a very good driver. He’s a Finn, he has been brought up on slippery surfaces and I’m sure he was playing around on them for a long time, it’s natural that he will be good like the other Finnish drivers.”

The Arctic Rally will be a continuation of the two-day test which Raikkonen conducted at the end of last week, close to Jyvaskyla in central Finland. The event includes 12 stages and finishes on Saturday afternoon.

Raikkonen said: “I got to know the C4 a little bit during a test session close to the Citroen Racing workshops. This rally is a very good opportunity for me to work with the team in competitive conditions and continue my learning curve with the car. I took part in this rally last year with [co-driver] Kaj [Lindstrom] and as the route is largely the same I think that could help us a bit.”

Citroen Racing Technologies team manager Benoit Nogier, the man who will run Raikkonen’s C4 this season, added: “This experience will be as useful to the team as it will be to the individual crews. Kimi will drive a C4 WRC in identical specification to the one that he will race over the rest of the season.

“Similarly, the crew of technicians in Rovaniemi will remain on his car for the remainder of the year.”

Munchi’s Ford driver Federico Villagra will contest the third round of this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge – Rally Argentina – in a Ford Fiesta S2000.

The Argentinian, who has been a regular in the World Rally Championship since 2007, will be among the favourites for victory on his home event in March despite his lack of familiarity with the Fiesta. The multiple Argentinian Rally champion will arrive at M-Sport’s base in Cumbria next week to test the Focus RS WRC he will use in this year’s WRC and the Fiesta for Rally Argentina.

Villagra’s best result on the biggest rally in his homeland was fourth overall last year. In his efforts to better that score, he will have to overcome reigning IRC champion Kris Meeke, who makes the trip to South America in his Peugeot UK 207 S2000.

Following the victorious debut of the Fiesta S2000 on last week’s Monte Carlo Rally, M-Sport managing director Malcolm Wilson is confident of seeing more of his cars competing in the IRC – although Monte winner and Ford WRC driver Mikko Hirvonen is not set for further IRC appearances.

“There are no plans to do any other rounds of the IRC with Mikko but hopefully there will be some private drivers coming into the IRC in Fiestas,” said Wilson. “They will be run by other teams but hopefully they will do the same job that Mikko has done in Monte Carlo.”

This year’s Rally Argentina will not qualify for the FIA World Rally Championship for the first time since 1995, due to the rotational nature of the 2010 WRC calendar. It is expected the Carlos Paz-based classic will return to WRC in 2011.

Munchi’s Ford driver Federico Villagra will contest the third round of this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge – Rally Argentina – in a Ford Fiesta S2000.

The Argentinian, who has been a regular in the World Rally Championship since 2007, will be among the favourites for victory on his home event in March despite his lack of familiarity with the Fiesta. The multiple Argentinian Rally champion will arrive at M-Sport’s base in Cumbria next week to test the Focus RS WRC he will use in this year’s WRC and the Fiesta for Rally Argentina.

Villagra’s best result on the biggest rally in his homeland was fourth overall last year. In his efforts to better that score, he will have to overcome reigning IRC champion Kris Meeke, who makes the trip to South America in his Peugeot UK 207 S2000.

Following the victorious debut of the Fiesta S2000 on last week’s Monte Carlo Rally, M-Sport managing director Malcolm Wilson is confident of seeing more of his cars competing in the IRC – although Monte winner and Ford WRC driver Mikko Hirvonen is not set for further IRC appearances.

“There are no plans to do any other rounds of the IRC with Mikko but hopefully there will be some private drivers coming into the IRC in Fiestas,” said Wilson. “They will be run by other teams but hopefully they will do the same job that Mikko has done in Monte Carlo.”

This year’s Rally Argentina will not qualify for the FIA World Rally Championship for the first time since 1995, due to the rotational nature of the 2010 WRC calendar. It is expected the Carlos Paz-based classic will return to WRC in 2011.

Ford World Rally Championship star Mikko Hirvonen has revealed he was suffering from back problems through the majority of last season – a year when he came closer than anybody to beating Sebastien Loeb to the WRC title.

Hirvonen, who has started his 2010 season with victory when he collected his first Monte Carlo Rally win last week, says he has no problems with his back now, but the trouble began in May last year.

He said: “It started in Sardinia in the spring, when I got an inflammation. Before the Acropolis Rally [in June] I actually had to spend time in hospital.

“It was not really a big problem, when I was driving, but I could not do proper training in the summer. This went on right to the end of the season, all the way to Rally Wales. But it’s okay now.”

Hirvonen came within a point of winning last year’s World Rally Championship before missing out to Frenchman Loeb, who picked up a sixth consecutive award.