“The team performed well in Spain and I would imagine their confidence on asphalt is greater now than a week ago. They all improved during the three days of competition and ended the rally on a high. The important thing for me is that the drivers and cars are in the best possible mental and physical shape to start this next round.
“There will be less pressure on the crews in Corsica - and the skills that they learnt in Spain will make a big difference as they go straight into another asphalt rally,” he summed-up.
Munchi’s Ford WRT:
[Luis-Perez Companc, car #11 and
Federico Villagra, car #12]
Not in action in France.
The Munchi's Ford WRT will miss this coming weekend's Rallye de France as the next event in their ten-event campaign isn't until the end of the month, when they head to Japan.
Last weekend’s event in Spain meanwhile didn’t go well for team leader,
Luis Perez Companc. The Argentine went into the event aiming to get a finish as it was his first all-asphalt outing in the WRC. However he didn’t survive long and crashed out on just the second stage. He was unable to re-start under the SupeRally as the off damaged the roll cage on his Focus.
"It was a second gear corner that caught me out. I was too much on the inside of the corner where there was some mud and we just under-steered off at low speed," he explained. "There were a lot of spectators there and they tried to get the car back onto the road but it was stuck. It looked like there was no damage done, we just couldn't get it back on the road.
"The first stage had gone really well and I was starting to get some confidence. My pace notes were good in the slow corners but too slow in the fast corners and there were a few places I was backing off when it was still flat out.
"Unfortunately we weren't able to re-start as there was some small damage to the roll cage. This was disappointing as it would have been really good and quite important to get more experience on asphalt."
Federico Villagra though did get to the finish in the sister car and after no major incidents was classified 13th overall.
"The rally started well for me. The hardest part of the first day was getting the feeling on asphalt and also realising the corners that will be cut and knowing where exactly the other cars will drag gravel onto the road," he added.
