Last updated 19:41, Thursday, 03 April 2008

ITALIAN crew Gigi Galli and Giovanni Bernacchini earned Stobart VK M-Sport Ford three manufacturers’ points on the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Galli’s seventh in the Rally Argentina kept him in fifth in the drivers’ championship and the team in fourth in the manufacturers’ classification.

His strong finish, though, was marred by both Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud and Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin having to retire on the final day.

Both drivers were running inside the points at different stages of the event but were struck down by the treacherous weather conditions which hampered this year’s South American round.

Galli’s result was a fantastic achievement considering he retired from day two at mid-day service with problems caused by the rough terrain that took over the given time limit to fix.

The 35-year-old set a multitude of top-three stage times on the opening day of Rally Argentina posting the fastest on the second pass of San Marcos on Friday afternoon.

Stobart’s second nominated point scorer was not so fortunate, retiring from each day under different circumstances.

On day one Solberg retired with a broken top-mount after clipping a surface rock sticking up on the racing line. The Norwegian withdrew from the afternoon stages on Saturday to preserve his car for next month’s Jordan Rally and re-entered today under SupeRally regulations, only to retire on the opening test with suspension damage.

Twenty-one-year-old Wilson was running well at the halfway point of Rally Argentina sitting in sixth and staying out of trouble. Unfortunately on stage 15 he struck trouble on the final corner when the track control arm on his Focus RS broke forcing him to retire from the leg.

The youngster re-started the final day in an effort to gain maximum experience and some more gravel miles but unfortunately retired on the opening test with broken front suspension.

Wilson said: “This has been the most difficult rally of my career and is one from which I will take away a lot of experience.

“It was a disappointing end because we were looking good and my mechanics did an awesome job to get us back out after the problems.”