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Latvian rally driver Mārtiņš Sesks and co-pilot Renārs Francis on Sunday, the World Rally Championship (WRC) junior class (JWRC) were crowned vice-champions.
It has already been reported that Seska’s crew in Monza crashed in the first stage on Saturday, forcing them to withdraw from the race, but due to car damage, the athlete could not fight for the championship title on Sunday.
In the photos published by the race organizers, Seska’s car was visible without the rear wheels.
The fight for the title of champion was also prevented by the prolonged visit to the hospital. Sesks and Francis were taken to a local hospital by helicopter after Saturday’s crash.
In the JWRC class in the last stage of the season, the victory was won by Swede Tom Christenson, who won two of the three extra stages. The fastest in Saturday’s first “dopa” was Sami Pajari from Finland.
Christenson arrived in Monza with ten points less than Seskam, but his stable performance allowed him to earn 83 points, while Liepaja had 15 points less. Pajari earned 66 points.
It has already been reported that Sesks reached the third fastest time in the junior race on Thursday at the Monza Speedway in the only stage, with the leader Pajari from Finland losing 5.3 seconds.
After Friday’s races, Christenson, who was Seska’s main competitor in the fight for the title, overtook Seska by two minutes and 20.2 seconds.
In the final stage of the season, participants had the opportunity to win one and a half times more points than in the regular stage and get bonus points for victories in the special stages, and athletes who participated in all stages of the championship will not take into account the worst results.
Before the last stage in the junior class, Sesks took the first place with 68 points, but Christenson was ten less. The Finn Pajari had scored four points less. Christenson withdrew from the stage in Estonia, so he will not be taken into account.
In Italy, rally riders are surprised by the snow, so athletes are allowed to use winter tires. JWRC class riders are allowed to use six sets of tires.
In the JWRC class, all athletes start with Ford Fiesta vehicles.
In the first stage of the JWRC of the season, Sesks and Francis in Sweden won the second place, conceding only to Christenson, but in the second stage in Estonia they took Latvia’s first victory in this class. In the previous stage in Sardinia, the Sesque was third.
Last year, Sesk had his debut year in the World Junior Championship in a Ford Fiesta R2. In JWRC class in 25 stages Seska’s crew managed to finish the best in three, in the stages the victory was won in three rallies.
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