Villagra keen on kilometres

Federico Villagra says his failure to complete the opening day of Rally Guanajuato Mexico took the shine off scoring two drivers’ points and the six points he claimed for his Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team.

The 41-year-old was tackling his first WRC round of the season when a mistake on Friday’s first stage left his Fiesta RS WRC missing its front-right wheel after contact with a rock.

Following repairs he was able to restart on day two, albeit in 21st overall and battled back to 10th overall, inheriting ninth when Nasser Al-Attiyah was excluded for a technical infringement.

“I cut a corner a little too much,” said Villagra in explaining his incident on Friday. “It was a little bush and right after the bush there was a big stone. The wheel got stuck and it was in fifth gear so it took the [front-right] wheel off right away. We spun and we finished 50 to 60 metres away. Before that point I thought it would be a long day but it was a short day and that was a shame because the idea on this rally was to learn the car, the right gears and the right speed. But sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to.”

After surviving a scare on Saturday’s opening loop of stages when his car stopped on the first stage before a brake problem took hold, Villagra’s car ran largely trouble-free until a left-rear driveshaft failed two stages from home, just after he had recorded the sixth fastest time on stage 20.

“In my case I need to get the kilometres so it was disappointing we could not do all of the stages,” said Villagra. “But I really enjoyed the car and it has a really good chassis.”

Villagra returns to WRC action on Vodafone Rally de Portugal at the end of March. Before then, however, he will begin the defence of his Argentine title on an event near the capital, Buenos Aires, from 18-20 March, where he will drive a Super 2000-based Fiesta.