Rally de Unquillo 2009 – Pozzo wins, Villagra champion

Podio2 Rally de Unquillo 2009 Pozzo wins, Villagra champion

In the final round of the “Rally Argentino” Villagra beat down an impressive Nicolás Madero, in the last match of a thrilling face to face. The race was won by Subaru Baratec driver, Gabriel Pozzo, who stunned his rivals in an incredible exhibition.

Federico Villagra did it again. The VRS driver clinched his eight-title within the Argentine Rally Championship –his fourth consecutive- proving once again he is a step forward of his opponents.

This time the “coyote” reached the final round without having the upper hand, and had to fight back to overcome Madero, who waste his second match point on the way to claim his first title.

As it happen in Bariloche, Tango driver suffered once again with mechanical issues in his Mitsubishi Evo X, when performing the role he was supposed to play. Without pushing so hard, the series leader was four overall but on the SS4 he found himself on trouble with a broken clutch, losing ten valuable minutes and moving back to 14° position.

Rally de Unquillo 2009 Pozzo wins, Villagra champion

After discussing the matter with his engineers, and in a logical decision, at the end of day one the Tango owner, Marcos Ligato, decided to abandon the race, the same for Alejandro Cancio, to enable Madero climb up two positions.

Taking advantage of the situation, Villagra only needed to cruises his Mitsubishi Evo X to the finish line, and finally reached the second position, to seal the championship in an incredible final showdown.

On Sunday the race increased on toughness, and many drivers were forced to abandon, enabling Madero to move three positions forward. However, it was not enough, since the native of Bariloche only could picked up one point in the overall classification – he also clinched five points in the leg- and finally missed out the opportunity by just 3,5 units.

Podio Rally de Unquillo 2009 Pozzo wins, Villagra champion

Rally de Unquillo
Final Classification

1°) Gabriel Pozzo-D. Stillo                     Subaru Impreza     1h.51m.36s.3/10 a 77.34 k/h
2°) Federico Villagra-D. Curletto             Mitsubishi Evo X    + 38s.07/10
3°) Claudio Menzi-D. Cagnotti                Subaru Impreza     + 2m.03s.8/10
4°) Juan Marchetto-J. Díaz                     Mitsubishi Evo IX   + 2m.10s.0/10
5°) Miguel Baldoni-R. Quiroz                  Mitsubishi Evo IX   + 4m.28s.3/10
6º) Gerónimo Padilla-R. Kember             Mitsubishi Evo X    + 8m.24s.6/10
7°) Elder Tasca-L. Londero                    Mitsubishi Evo IX    + 8m.28s.3/10
8°) Nicolás Madero-G. Piazzano            Mitsubishi Evo X     + 11m.1s.1/10

Championship

Final Standings

1º) Federico Villagra (Champion) 122 pts,

2º) Nicolás Madero 118,5 pts,

3º) Gabriel Pozzo 82 pts,

4º) Marcos Ligato 76,5 pts

5°) Claudio Menzi 75 pts.

6°) Juan Marchetto 62 pts.

Photos Credit: Rally Argentino Press office

Rally de Unquillo 2009 - Video Clip

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