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Rossi’s seventh Monza success

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi completed a clean sweep of stage wins to secure his seventh Monza Rally Show victory ahead of WRC star Teemu Suninen on sunday.

The Italian, driving a Ford Fiesta World Rally Car, swept to a fourth consecutive success at the Italian Formula 1 circuit. He finished 1min 07.2sec clear of Finn Suninen, who was partnered by new co-driver Marko Salminen for the first time.

Rossi ended Friday’s opening leg with a 7.1sec lead over Suninen’s similar Fiesta and extended his advantage throughout the remaining eight stages.

Suninen matched Rossi to share the spoils in the penultimate test but could do no more to tame the Italian. Roberto Brivio finished third in another Fiesta, 55.8sec further back.

Suninen was unable to gain revenge in the knockout Masters Show which followed the rally. He was defeated by Rossi, who then lost the four-lap final to nine-time motocross world champion Tony Cairoli in a Hyundai i20 WRC.

Rally cars from all four 2018 WRC manufacturer teams were displayed in front of Milan’s iconic cathedral ahead of the action as a roadshow took the championship to thousands of commuters and Christmas shoppers in the heart of the city.

The Citroën C3, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai i20 and Toyota Yaris World Rally Cars provided a memorable photo opportunity in the world famous Piazza del Duomo as the quartet appeared together for the final time in 2018.

After the daylong roadshow the cars were on display throughout the 40th anniversary Monza Rally Show.

Zdroj: wrc.com