Simon Hughes proved his undoubted pace and ability on this weekend's INA Rallye Zagreb in Croatia, a round of the Skoda Fabia Rallye Cup.  The 22 year old from Colwyn Bay held a comfortable 30 second lead when his Skoda Fabia retired with a sudden transmission failure for the second time in two events after an excellent performance.Partnered by Oswestry's Craig Parry, Hughes had been determined to make up for his disappointing outing on the recent SEAT Rallye Krumlov, and the young Welshman was eager to remind competitors and spectators alike of his pace as the Fabia Cup crews headed outside of the Czech Republic to Croatia.  A tough two day test of their skills lay in wait on some fast and hilly stages near to the capital.Arch rival Josef Sedlacek was keen to further his championship lead after victory on the last two rounds, so Hughes knew that a fast start was required in order to put pressure on his fiercely competitive Czech rival.  Hughes wasted no time in signalling his intentions as he took a whole six seconds of Sedlacek on the opening stage of the rally, and set the pace on two further stages to hold the lead at service.A slight brush with the scenery cost Hughes little time on the next loop of stages, as he kept the battling Sedlacek around 15 seconds behind.  However, in a bizarre sequence of events on the evening 'Super Special' stage, Sedlacek incurred huge time penalties after completing an extra lap of the specially constructed spectator stage - and then broke a driveshaft in doing so.  Hughes now found himself 30 seconds up on his next rival, with Sedlacek way out of the equation in last place.Simon must have slept well overnight, as he restarted brightly on Saturday, again topping the timesheets as he began to control the pace in what was rapidly becoming a confident performance from the Welsh ace.  However, for the second rally in a row, Hughes was left to ponder what might have been, as the MAX Racing Skoda Fabia ground to a halt in SS10 with no drive, and differential failure the most likely cause for retirement.Hughes, understandably, was bitterly disappointed:'I really don't know what to say.  I could not have done any more on this rally.  Craig and I worked hard to build a lead, and then we were controlling the pace from the front.  Everything was fine, tyre choice was good, car felt good, and we knew we had the measure on our nearest rivals.  Once again, there was no bang, no prior warning, the car just suddenly stopped moving under its own power and we could do nothing to solve it.  A win here would have put us right back in contention for the Championship title, but this retirement means that we have to win all the remaining rounds now with our main rival Josef Sedlacek hitting problems as well.  Obviously that is going to be a very tall order indeed, but the championship isn't over until its over, and that is the only way we can look at it now'.Hughes has just a few weeks to wait before he can try to win a round again.  The Skoda Auto Rallye Bohemia is based in the town of Mlada Boleslav, home of the mighty Czech car maker, and Hughes will be desperate to make a good impression under the noses of the World Rally Team bosses.  Hughes will reunite with regular co-driver Glenn Patterson for the remainder of the Czech series after his recent UK commitments.