Sesks confident for Croatian encounter
Last year’s FIA Junior WRC runner-up Mārtiņš Sesks is looking forward to kick-starting his 2021 campaign at the Croatia Rally (22-25 April).
The Latvian narrowly missed out on the title in 2020 after crashing his M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally4 at ACI Rally Monza whilst battling for the lead with eventual champion Tom Kristensson.
Sesks has used the four months since to carry out a series of successful tests in preparation for another title tilt in 2021 and is feeling well-prepared ahead of the brand new asphalt event.
“I am feeling better than I ever have done before a new season. I think if you ignore Monza, we did a great job last year,” explained the 21-year-old.
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14 April 2021 12:28 pm / 2 comments
With the engineering of UK-based Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM) providing the support for various rally campaigns entered by the Proton Iriz R5 rally car, we’ve previously known the Malaysian B-segment hatchback to be powered by a version of the 4B11 engine that comes from the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. As it turns out, the heart of this rally car originates closer to home in Malaysia.
This 4B11 engine that provides the basis for the powertrain in the Iriz R5 rally car is actually sourced from Shah Alam, pulled from the Proton Inspira. The engine’s rather more mainstream origins compared to the Lancer Evolution matters little, as only the engine block and head area used, with competition-grade products used for parts such as the pistons, connecting rods, crankshaft, camshafts, cylinder sleeves, turbocharger and the like.
Three-time French rally champion Yoann Bonato announced in late March he would plant a tree for every time he sets the best lap time in a race, joining a growing environmental trend in the world of sport. EURACTIV France reports.
As Bonato and teammate Benjamin Boulloud, who are committing to the “1 win for 1 tree” challenge, plan to take part in nine events in the French championship and eight rounds of the European Rally Championship (ERC) this year, “an entire forest” could be “at stake”, according to a document EURACTIV had access to.
To put things into context, when the duo won the French championship for the second time in 2018, Bonato set the fastest lap time in no less than 50 so-called specials, a portion of the race that racers attempt to complete within the shortest time as the winner of the race is the one with the lowest overall time for all specials of the race combined.