Federico Villagra, 13th in this year’s World Rally Championship standings, has done something not even WRC ace Sebastien Loeb has managed: win his domestic title for a 10th time.
Villagra, who drove a Munchi’s Ford Fiesta RS WRC on seven rounds of this year’s world championship, clinched the Argentine crown in his Maxi Rally-specification Fiesta last weekend.
Such was Villagra’s advantage at the top of the standings before the start he was able to put the title beyond reach at the completion of the first leg of Rally Pagos del Tuyu, the penultimate round of the 11-event Argentine series.
However, he felt short in his bid to claim his seventh win of the season and his 51st victory in the Argentine championship when he had to settle for second behind Paraguayan Kia driver Diego Dominguez by a margin of 1.7s after a handbrake problem held him back in the closing stages.
Former WRC Academy driver Miguel Baldoni led the event after six stages but rolled into retirement on the final day of the event.