In the final 20th stage, the fastest was the Estonian Ots Tenaks (“Hyundai Shell Mobis”), who finished in seven minutes and six seconds. He was only 0.2 seconds ahead of the French Sebastien Ogier (Toyota GR Yaris), but the Belgian Thierry Neville (Hyundai Shell Mobis) lost to the Estonian by 0.7 seconds and was third.
The Latvian crew (“Ford Puma”), which most likely faced some technical problems in the final stage, finished only in 18th position in the last stage, almost two minutes behind the owner of the best result.
Rovanpere (“Toyota GR Yaris”) celebrated the victory in the overall standings, who beat the second place winner Ogier by 39.2 seconds, while Tenak was one minute and 4.5 seconds behind and completed the top three.
Sesks, who was still in third place before the final stage, lost to the Finnish pilot by two minutes and 45.4 seconds and finished in sixth position.
The crews had to perform 20 speed stages in Latvia with a length of 300.13 kilometers, but together with the crossings they will be more than 1000 kilometers.
At the end of June, Ceska’s crew made their WRC debut, finishing fifth in Rally Poland.
The first WRC stage in Latvia covers the territory from Liepāja to Riga, with speed stages also taking place in Tukums, Talsi and Talsu districts, Kuldīgas and Southern Kurzeme districts.
The season will continue with stages in Finland, Greece, Chile, Germany and Japan.
Last year, Finnish racing driver Kalle Rovanpere became a two-time world champion, securing the title one stage before the end of the season. Rovanpere, who won two Latvian rally championships at the beginning of his career, is not competing in all WRC stages this year.
Source: www.diena.lv
