Tiago Weiler wins the Rally de Alto Paraná in Paraguay
The Paraguayan Rally Championship continued last weekend with the fifth round of the season, the Rally de Alto Paraná (28th to 30th July). And once again there were some impressive performances from ŠKODA FABIA R5 drivers. It was Tiago Weiler and his Argentinian co-driver Diego Cagnotti who claimed the victory. It was Weiler’s first win in a FABIA R5 as well as his first podium finish of the season.
It was secured by the narrow margin as he edged out defending Paraguayan and CODASUR champion Gustavo Saba. They led by 33.8 seconds at the end of the first leg and then drove a dogged and determined second leg to hold off the charge of Saba, winning eventually by a margin of just 6 seconds.
Saba, who was also supported by an Argentinian co-driver Fernando Mussano, suffered damper problems on the opening leg, which cost them 55 seconds and the lead. But they recovered in the second leg to win all six special stages of the day but were not quite able to reel Weiler in. Nevertheless, Saba secured an important second place finish and claimed more vital championship points to extend his lead.
Completing the all-ŠKODA podium in third place was the FABIA R5 of Miguel "Miki" Zaldivar / Edgardo Galindo (also from Argentina!). They finished 1 minute and 9 seconds further back for their third podium finish of the season. The result helped them move ahead of Augusto Bestard into second place in the championship standings.
Further down the field, Pedro Fadul / Hans Thiede finished in seventh place in their FABIA R5, while Didier Arias / Hector Nunes finished in eleventh place.
The next round of the Paraguayan Rally Championship will be the Rally Cordillera which starts on the 13th August.
Rally de Alto Paraná 2017
Tiago Weiler wins the Rally de Alto Paraná in Paraguay
The Paraguayan Rally Championship continued last weekend with the fifth round of the season, the Rally de Alto Paraná (28th to 30th July). And once again there were some impressive performances from ŠKODA FABIA R5 drivers. It was Tiago Weiler and his Argentinian co-driver Diego Cagnotti who claimed the victory. It was Weiler’s first win in a FABIA R5 as well as his first podium finish of the season.
It was secured by the narrow margin as he edged out defending Paraguayan and CODASUR champion Gustavo Saba. They led by 33.8 seconds at the end of the first leg and then drove a dogged and determined second leg to hold off the charge of Saba, winning eventually by a margin of just 6 seconds.
Saba, who was also supported by an Argentinian co-driver Fernando Mussano, suffered damper problems on the opening leg, which cost them 55 seconds and the lead. But they recovered in the second leg to win all six special stages of the day but were not quite able to reel Weiler in. Nevertheless, Saba secured an important second place finish and claimed more vital championship points to extend his lead.
Completing the all-ŠKODA podium in third place was the FABIA R5 of Miguel "Miki" Zaldivar / Edgardo Galindo (also from Argentina!). They finished 1 minute and 9 seconds further back for their third podium finish of the season. The result helped them move ahead of Augusto Bestard into second place in the championship standings.
Further down the field, Pedro Fadul / Hans Thiede finished in seventh place in their FABIA R5, while Didier Arias / Hector Nunes finished in eleventh place.
The next round of the Paraguayan Rally Championship will be the Rally Cordillera which starts on the 13th August.
