Roll cage damage means no restart for Galli

Gigi Galli has retired from Rally Mexico as a result of roll cage damage sustained in his accident on stage four.

Galli was in third place before the accident which happened just 40 metres into the stage. After running wide on a fast left-hand bend, the right-hand rear wheel of Galli’s Ford Focus collided with a rock, damaging the trailing arm.

Back in the service area the team discovered that the broken trailing arm had damaged to the rear section of the roll cage and a decision was made by the FIA and the team to retire the car from the event on safety grounds.

“I am very disappointed,” said Galli. “It was just so silly because everything was feeling good and I felt like I was set up well for the corner. The first two stages today were okay I actually didn’t really expect to get such good times because we were taking no risks and just driving sensibly and everything, the car, tyres and setup, was all perfect. It is a shame because I only got to drive about 60 kilometres on gravel and with the new tyres but the experience will help me when we go to Argentina for the next round.”

The team’s remaining driver, 21-year-old Matthew Wilson, is seventh overall. “Our speed this morning was very good despite being held up in Toni’s dust on stage two where we lost around 50 seconds,” said Wilson. “The first two in the afternoon weren’t the best for me because the roads had cleared up which offered more grip that I didn’t quite use to full effect. The final proper stage before the Superspecial was really good though and had if it not been for a couple of silly little mistakes we would have been well under a second a kilometre off the fastest guys. This was a good way to finish the day as we head into tomorrow which I know will be another challenging day.”