“My aim here is to finish the rally and the best way to do that is to keep the car on the road, I need to gain as much experience as possible. It is going to be complicated to write good pacenotes because I don’t know the exact limit of the car’s grip on asphalt and also it is not going to be easy to know which are the corners you can cut and the ones you can’t. I also know that I need to be careful on the first pass to realise the corners that will have gravel dragged onto the road from the other drivers cutting corners.”
Villagra meanwhile is also aware that it will be a tough one, although his confidence has been boosted in the build-up to this event following his victory on the Rally de Mina Clavero, the seventh round in the Argentine Rally Championship.
That result puts ‘Coyote’ 19.5 points clear in the race for his national title with three rounds to go.
“I am hoping for another good learning experience with the car in Spain. I have only just learnt how to drive the car on gravel and now I have to start again on asphalt. I am under no illusions and know it will be a hard rally but I’m really looking forward to it,” he continued.
“We had a good test session earlier in the year and we will also have a few runs in the car on Monday afternoon. The testing is very important and it has given me a good feeling to start the rally. We were able to try different settings and basically just get used to the new surface.
“I am hoping to complete all of the stages and try and finish the rally without any problems as this will give me the maximum experience for the next asphalt rally. But I also know it won’t be easy. I am not sure of the exact lines and the exact speeds that we can push for on this rally. The cuts on the corners will also be difficult and we need to be wary of the gravel. I will plan to start off at a safe pace and try to get faster as the rally goes on.”
Junior RC:
Title decider?
The Rally Catalunya is the sixth and penultimate round in the 2007
FIA Junior Rally Championship and currently the standings are led by
Urmo Aava, who has notched up 32 points to date.
