ItaliaspeedTV - Fiat Punto Maxi Rally - Rally de Villa Dolores, Argentina (II)

Claudio Menzi was able to cruise on the final day to seal the first win for Fiat on its Argentinean rallying return and also secure the debut victory for the new breed of "Maxi Rally" machines on the Rally de Villa Dolores at the weekend, the second round of the Campeonato Argentino de Rally (Argentine Rally Championship) held in the province of Córdoba.

At the wheel of the brand-new Fiat Punto Maxi Rally, on only its second outing, the former Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) competitor shone to come up with an outstanding victory on Fiat Argentina's "home turf" of Córdoba that enabled the official Scuderia Fiat outfit to come back to the spotlight after 15 years outside national rally competition.

Menzi in fact made safe the win early on Sunday morning after 2011 PWRC champion Gabriel Pozzo (Volkswagen Gol Trend Maxi Rally), the only driver who could match Menzi's pace, crashed on the PE 9 while in second position and only 14.6 seconds adrift of the lead. Pozzo had at that point successfully bounced back over Saturday's stages after receiving a one-minute penalty for some irregularities during the recce. The 2010 Campeonato Argentino de Rally runner-up actually won six of the seven stages run on the first day of action.
"I am very happy, it's amazing the joy I feel," said Menzi at the finish line in Córdoba," winning the second race for the car is very important and I'm proud to be one of the pilots chosen by Fiat. I am very grateful the team worked a lot and I cannot ask for more. To be the first to win with this car is very satisfying."
Menzi's Scuderia Fiat team mate Christian Confetti had a less promising weekend however: he retired on day one but came back into the action on the second day to post a string of highly competitive times. "The weekend left me with mixed feelings," said the Italian, "because on Saturday it was very difficult but on Sunday we recovered to show the car is very competitive and that gives me peace of mind for what comes next."
That result bounces Menzi into the Campeonato Argentino de Rally points lead after two rounds. The first event was held three weeks ago and resulted in a slew of stages being cancelled due to torrential rain before the rally was abandoned and half points were awarded. Menzi collected just 0.5 points on the opening round after coming home eighth overall but earned a bumper 49 points last weekend to move straight to the top of the standings. He is now trailed by three Mitsubishi Evo pilots Juan Marchetto (43 points), José Cantón (36 points) and Juan Gil De Marchi (30.5 points) before the next of the Maxi Rally pilots, the VW star Gabriel Pozzo (25.5 points) takes up fifth place on the leaderboard, 8.5 points ahead of his team mate Miguel Baldoni. Menzi's Scuderia Fiat team mate Confetti is yet to get off the points mark.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• fiat
• scuderia
• maxi
• claudio
• menzi
• christian
• confetti
• rally
• de
• villa
• dolores
• campeonato
• argentino
• argentine
• championship
• córdoba
• 2011
• argentina

[odin52]

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