Miguel Baldoni cruised on board his VW Gol Trend Maxi Rally to seal his fifth straight victory in his home event, the Rally de San Luis, fifth round of the Argentine Rally Championship.
The Baratec team's driver outpaced Federico Villagra (Ford) by 29,6s, whereas Marcos Ligato (Chevrolet) came in third position -1m01,4s adrift-, to claim the final spot in the podium.
Baldoni, who has never won outside his province, clinched his first victory in this season to claim the leading position in the Championship for the first time in his career with a 22-point advantage over Villagra. He also became the fourth different driver to win this year.
"I'm really happy for this victory and for winning in my province once again" said Baldoni. "I think the key was to set a fast pace in the first two stages, which then enabled me to be more cautious in the next ones. The roads were really rough and there were lots of punctures. Happily, we didn't have any problem" added Baldoni, who won this rally practically from beginning to end after grabbing the lead in the second stage. He claimed six spec ial stage victories.
Villagra's teammate Nicolás Madero (Ford) was fourth ahead of the Scuderia Fiat pair Gabriel Pozzo and Claudio Menzi, who bounced back after suffering three and four punctures each. However, the fifth position wasn't enough for Menzi who arrived to this really leading in the standings.
The next round will take place July 20th-22th in the city of Goya, in the province of Corrientes.
Rally de San Luis - Final Classification
1º) M. Baldoni-G. Franchello (Volkswagen) 1h34m44,6s
2º) F. Villagra-D. Curletto (Ford) +29,6s
3º) M. Ligato-R. GarcÃa (Chevrolet) +1m01,4s
4º) N. Madero-J. Prieto (Ford) +2m25,2s
5º) G. Pozzo-D. Stillo (Fiat) +2m29,4s
6º) C. Menzi-D. Cagnotti (Fiat) +3m30,4s
7º) A. Marchetto-M. Bazán (Mitsubishi) +3m36,0s
8º) J. Marchetto-J. DÃaz (Chevrolet) +4m43,6s
9º) A. Cancio-S. GarcÃa (Peugeot) +4m59,0s
10º) J. Gómez-M. Ramos (Subaru) +5m20,9s
Championship: 1°) Baldoni 152, 2°) Villagra 130, 3°) Menzi 128, 4°) Pozzo 109, 5°) Ligato 85.
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