For the Spanish Gravel Rally Championship's season debut in the the Cordoba region last week-end, Xevi Pons dominated the event by placing his Mitsubishi Lancer at the the top of the time sheets on every one of Rally Pozoblanco's eight stages.

"This victory looks easy, but we had to keep our calm in order to maintain the pace over the whole event," Pons said after crossing the finish line with a good lead.

"It's very good to start the year with a win, but we don't know if we will be able to continue the season," he added. "We shall see, but in regards to this week-end, I had the feeling I was participating in a sensational event with surprising stages."

The second step of the podium went to Yeray Lemes, who thereby marked his best result on gravel as he continued to progress, constantly remaining in Pons' wake and committing no errors during his runs. He was there to learn, with that being his sole objective as he persisted along on every stage, delivering a result much better than he had privately anticipated. Surely an encouraging performance for Lemes ahead of a long season.

Satisfaction was also the case for Alex Villanueva following a difficult 2007 campaign. After starting out prudently with the sole purpose of completing the rally, Villanueva increased the rhythm and eventually reached the third step of the podium in Cordoba.

The top five positions of Rally Pozoblanco are occupied by Mitsubishi Lancers. Behind the men standing on the overall podium we find Oscar Fuertes and Jorge Garcia, with the latter also claiming victory in the Group N category by the same occasion.

For his part, Dani Sola had a bad first day of competition. The current Champion encountered electrical problems and an engine overheat issue which brought his rally to an early end.

Things had already been going wrong right from the start: while en route to the first stage, he had an incident with another contender. The result was a damaged intercooler for his Mitsubishi Lancer and a loss of power, with four stages to complete before reaching the service area.

Rallye Pozoblanco: Top five final standings

1 X.Pons-C.Del Barrio      Mitsubishi Lancer       48'12"0
2 Y.Lemes-R.Peñate         Mitsubishi Lancer      +   47"1
3 A.Villanueva-A.Tramont   Mitsubishi Lancer      + 2'13"7 
4 O.Fuertes-H.Casarrubios  Mitsubishi Lancer      + 2'16"1 
5 J.García-E.Velasco       Mitsubishi Lancer (N)  + 3'10"9