Armindo Araujo Profile - Part one

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So on Sunday 6 September Araujo was champion, but the title remained provisional, subject to the outcome of the appeal by Al Attiyah's Barwa Rally Team. If the FIA International Court of Appeal overturned the exclusion then it would put Al-Attiyah and Araujo almost level on points again. And with Araujo having scored his maximum six results, Al-Attiyah would need only one point from Great Britain to become champion.

On 12 October the court overturned Al-Attiyah's exclusion from the Acropolis and re-classified him in last place - which didn't come with any points. This decision finally settled the series in Araujo's favour.

With the pressure off, Armindo rounded off his season with a victory parade on the final round in Great Britain. He wasn't eligible to score P-WRC points, so took a chance on switching from his trusted Lancer Evo IX to the later, largely unproven, Evo X.

On the slippery Welsh tracks Araujo couldn't match the pace of the Skoda Fabia S2000 of P-WRC winner Eyvind Brynildsen, but when the Norwegian's car was excluded after the rally for running the wrong brakes, Araujo became the best placed Group N driver, finishing ninth overall.

Having won his first World Title, the question now is how Araujo will follow it in 2010. The new FIA WRC Cup for Super 2000 cars is one option, as is another season with Ralliart Italy and the Mitsubishi Evo X.

To answer this question, and many more, we'll hear from the man himself in part two of our profile, which will be published here on wrc.com on 5 November. In the meantime, you can watch Araujo's title winning season from the stages with our EXCLUSIVE video profile in the WRC TV section.

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