“What a weekend. This has been a fantastic personal result for me and also for the Munchi's team,” said Luis after finishing in fifth in Japan. “This is by far my best result and for Federico to back it up and pick up points [with P7] is also amazing.
“We started well and were careful not to make any mistakes. It's been very good work by the team and a fantastic weekend.”
Production Car WRC:
Pozzo and Higgins to make Arai sweat?
Gabriel Pozzo and Mark Higgins both need to do well this weekend in Ireland to keep their slim hopes of taking the
FIA Production Car World Rally Championship title alive.
Toshi Arai currently leads, but cannot add to his 39 point tally as he has taken in all of his six nominated events.
Pozzo currently trails the Japanese driver by 17 points, while Higgins is 20 adrift. As such both need very good results to stay in contention - the latter has to win, while the former has to finish in at least second.
"I don’t know too much about what to expect," said Pozzo. "I have no experience of this rally – but then again, nobody does – but as well, I don’t know too much about driving on asphalt.
“I’ve done some asphalt WRC rounds before, but not too many and certainly none that sound anything like Ireland. All I can do is look forward. I’m not thinking about the championship at all. I want to win the rally this week – that’s enough for me to think about."
Higgins will take a similar approach, although he does have experience of the roads in Ireland, having competed in this season’s Irish Tarmac Championship.
"It’s fantastic to be in the position to have a shot at the world championship, that’s not something which happens every year. But, that’s not to underestimate the scale of the task which stands before me,” he added.
“Winning a round of the Production Car WRC is really not an easy task, no matter where you are in the world.
“The combination of very difficult, twisty, bumpy and narrow roads and what is bound to be some fairly wet weather is going to make Rally Ireland one of the hardest rallies of the season. Let’s just see what happens."
![Marcus Gronholm (FIN) / Timo Rautiainen (FIN) - BP Ford Focus WRC. Galway International Rally, February 3-4 2007. [Pic credit: Ford / worldrallypics.com]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/286908.jpg)
