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Already before rally began there were ominous signs in the air. Argentinian economy had never been very strong and after peso was floated in February 2002, consumer prices rose sharply leading to social unrest. Even so that during recce team members of Mitsubishi Ralliart and Channel 4 commentator Robbie Head were robbed at gun-point while on lunch on a local restaurant. Authorities stepped in with force and rest of the rally was strictly policed by both police and military.
Next shock came Sunday morning when rally leader Gronholm had problems starting his car from parc ferme. New "one kilometer rule" had been introduced to remove any doubt whether team members close to a car were only observing or actually helping. Peugeot was summoned before stewards and after the final stage had been completed, Marcus was excluded.
It was Richard Burns that inherited the win and went to spray champagne from the podium only to find out next morning that he too had been excluded. Scrutineers had found out that flywheel of Burns' Peugeot 206WRC was 20g underweight and win went to surprised Carlos Sainz.
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Rally Argentina 2002 counts for:
2002 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers/Co-drivers
2002 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers
2002 FIA World Rally Championship of Production Cars (for drivers)
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| 353rd WRC rally |
| Round of season: | 6 of 14 |
| Official name: | Rally Argentina |
| Edition: | 22nd |
| Date: | from Thursday 16-May-2002 to Sunday 19-May-2002 |
| Surface: | Gravel |
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| Entries: | 81 | |
| Starters: | 68 | |
| Finishers: | 29 | (42.6% of starters) |
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| Stages: | 22 | |
| Shortest: | 3.44 | km | (SS4 Pro-Racing - Lane A - 1) |
| Longest: | 28.83 | km | (SS18 Ascochinga 2) |
| Slowest: | 68.17 | km/h | (SS8 La Cumbre 1) |
| Fastest: | 121.73 | km/h | (SS21 Cura Brochero) |
| Planned stage distance: | 381.45 | km | (26.7% of total distance) |
| Actual stage distance: | 358.43 | km | (25.1% of total distance) |
| Road section distance: | 1,068.96 | km |
| Total distance: | 1,427.39 | km |
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| DRIVERS - PODIUM FINISHERS |
| | Win was 24th win and 81st podium for Carlos Sainz. |
| Second place was 2nd podium for Petter Solberg. |
| Third place was 39th podium for Colin McRae. |
| MAKES - PODIUM FINISHERS |
| | Win was 41st win and win and third place were 157th to 158th podiums for Ford. |
| | Second place was 86th podium for Subaru. |
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