Of the other ‘works' drivers', Luis-Perez Companc finished just outside the top 20 in the #1 Munchi's car. His hopes of getting a decent finish though disappeared on SS1, when he went off the road and struggled to get back on, losing over 6 minutes. Although he climbed back up to 12th just behind his team-mate, an error in the penultimate stage undid all his hard work.
There was only one significant retirement,
Subaru's third driver, Xavier Pons, who crashed out on days 1 and 2.
Although the first incident was not significant, the one on the Saturday, when he rolled his Impreza proved more problematic and the damage caused meant he was unable to re-start again on the Sunday. All-in-all the Spaniard managed just four stages at speed - a long way to go for such little mileage.
In the
FIA Production Car World Rally Championship category Niall McShea started the final leg with a 60 second lead, but was unable to hold off a hard charging Toshi Arai, who went in front in SS17.
Arai eventually took the PWRC win by 2.6 seconds, while Richard Mason was third in the category to give Subaru a 1-2-3 finish.
Gabriel Pozzo was the best placed Lancer driver in fourth, followed by fellow Mitsubishi runners, Fumio Nutahara, Armindo Araujo, Juho Haninnnen and Martin Rauam, who filled positions P5 to P8.
Arai's win puts him in a commanding position in the PWRC standings, 24 points up on his nearest rival, although the Japanese driver only has one more event left, as he has opted not to nominate Ireland and GB.
The WRC now takes a one-month break, before the back-to-back asphalt events in Spain and France in early to mid-October.
