Francisco López finishes second in seventh stage of Tunisian Rally

SANTIAGO.- Chilean racer Francisco López displayed his best performance yet at the Tunisian Rally today after earning the second-best time in the seventh phase of the event.

The result has allowed the Chilean national to climb to the third slot of the general ranking.

López covered the 410 kilometers between Brack and Quaryat in 4:42:48, finishing less than four minutes behind the first place participant for the day, Spanish driver Jordi Vildom, and arriving ahead of event leaders Marc Coma and Cyril Despres for the first time.

Francisco López summed up the leg by saying, "It was special, very technical, difficult, where the first 150 kilometers were full of rocks and stones. Viladoms and I started out four minutes behind Coma and Despres, but we caught up to them in the last 100 kilometers and managed to pass them; I even passed Jordi in the 30 final kilometres and that helped me to gain time overall and place myself third".

The Chilean racer was noticeably happy with his exceptional time in the "separate race" along with the Spanish driver, but stressed that "there are still four days of competition left and I can’t let it go to my head".