Munchi's Ford WRT team leader,
Luis Perez Companc has said that he was glad just to be able to finish on the Rally Mexico, after his ‘disaster start'.
Companc's hopes of scoring the teams first points disappeared on the very first stage, when a shock absorber broke just 1.8 kilometres into the 23.06 kilometre Alfaro 1 test. The Ford driver, who was forced to retire from the leg, was uncertain as to what caused the failure.
“It was a right hand corner, I went in as normal and didn't think I hit anything, I heard a bang, then the steering didn't work and the suspension was broken,” he explained. “We walked back to look at corner, there were no rocks or anything but something caused the shock to break.”
Although Companc managed to re-start on Saturday under the SupeRally by then the damage was done and he had lost over 30 minutes.
Indeed although he eventually managed to finish 19th, setting seven top ten stages times over the remaining twelve tests, he had further issues on the first loop on day two, when his Focus became stuck in fourth gear.
Overall it wasn't an especially good event, but a finish is still a finish: “I am glad to finish here in Mexico after the disaster start we had,” he continued.
“I had trouble with the gearbox and we were stuck in fourth at the end of stage 10. I had to switch to manual gear change to try and fix the problem, the manual gear change broke in the process but luckily it fixed the problem and I was able to use the paddle shifts for the last stage of the morning.
“It was a tough rally for me though but it felt good at the end when there were no problems and now we can head to Portugal with more experience on gravel which will be very helpful.”
Juan Pablo Raies meanwhile finished twelfth overall in the sister car, on his first attempt at the event, despite being dogged by brakes problems throughout.
“The last stages were ok and the car is very good,” reflected the WRC newcomer. “The times are a little better than this morning and an improvement from Saturday so I am happy.
![Luis Perez Companc (ARG) / Jose Maria Volta (ARG) Munchi's Ford Focus WRC 06 [Pic credit: Munchi's / worldrallypics.com]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/298301.jpg)
