The ninth round of the FIA World Rally Championship will mark the end of an era for Argentine driver Luis Perez Companc and co-driver José Maria Volta as they contest their final WRC event together on next week's Rally Finland.

Perez Companc has been a pioneer in exposing rally to the Argentine public through his Munchi's Ford World Rally Team which was the first, and thus far only, WRC manufacturer team to hail from South America. Rally Finland will also mark his 30th WRC start.

Co-driver Volta is also set to retire from competition and play more of an organisational role within the Munchi's outfit but will still leave himself available as a reserve co-driver for the team should they require one. Volta is also a legend in Argentine rallying, contesting 40 WRC career events – his first back in 1988 on Rally Argentina.

To keep sharp while the WRC has been on its six-week summer break, Perez Companc and teammate Federico Villagra both took park in a test at the beginning of the month in Finland, all in preparation for the well-known event.

"I am very anxious about Finland because it is almost my first event of this season," Perez Companc said. "I retired in the first leg of Rally Argentina, and when I was in Jordan I had to return back home, so I am looking forward to jumping into the rally car!"

"This is a rally that I like because it is fast and has all those jumps that make it very interesting," declared the soon-to-be retiree.

"All I want is to have fun and enjoy the event and to retire from WRC competition in the most important event with the best drivers of the world," Companc added.

Since the team first came into the World Rally Championship, a big progress in finishing events and scoring points for the drivers' and manufacturers' championships has been accomplished, something that Perez Companc is rather proud of achieving.

"I think that the Munchi's team will have a place in the history books as having been the first Argentine team to compete in the WRC," he stated. "We have achieved more than what we thought we could and this was also because of all the support we received from Malcolm Wilson and Ford during these years."

Perez Companc also had very good words for his trusty co-driver, José Maria Volta: "I will always be very thankful to José, he has been with me in the good and bad times. He also helped me in all my progress as a driver and I think that I could not have any other co-driver than him. He is an incredible person and we just have to look at each other and we know what the other is thinking. José has been very important in my development in the sport."