Title showdown in Monza for career-boosting prize package

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Five crews have a mathematical chance of winning the #2020fiajuniorwrcchampionship on #rallymonza and with it, a career-boosting prize package including a brand new EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta Rally2.
 
The prize package on offer allows the 2020 FIA Junior WRC Champion to propel themselves into four-wheel drive rallying on the world stage with free registration for WRC3 in 2021. The winner will also receive five free WRC3 entries in 2021 together with 200 Pirelli tyres and, the icing on the cake: a brand-new Ford Fiesta Rally2.
 
With 1.5x points on offer and 16 stage win points available it means a crew could score a maximum of 53.5 points. Consequently, the championship fight is wide open, particularly among the top three contenders who are separated by just 14 points. 
 
There are countless permutations and possibilities for each of the top-five crews to win the championship, meaning every driver will be pushing to their maximum in the final battle of the season. It is important to note that any driver who has competed on three rounds of Junior WRC previously this season will drop their lowest classification points score.
 All stage win points will count towards the championship.
 
Martins Sesks leads the championship with 68 points after finishing on the podium on every round of the season so far, with a victory on #rally Estonia, he also has ten stage win points to his name. 
 
Four-time Junior WRC #event winner, #tomkristensson, is second with 58 points and eight stage wins. The Swede has the most #event wins this season, winning on the season-opener in Sweden and last time out on #rally d'Italia Sardegna. Kristensson does have a zero score to his name after retiring in Estonia, however with one classification score to drop he is actually in quite a strong championship position. 
 
Flying Finn Future Star Award winner #samipajari is third with 54 points and has the most stage win points so far this season with 14. Although third in the championship he has only scored one podium in 2020 after an amazing fightback in Estonia going from fourth to second.
 
The 2020 Rookie Award will be decided in Monza too. Should Pajari not win the championship, he is in a very good position to win €15,000 towards his 2021 FIA Junior WRC championship campaign. Marco Pollara is second in the fight for this prize, trailing Pajari by 25 points. 
 
Pajari is also the favourite for the Wolf Stage win points award, which will be presented by Wolf Lubricants to the driver with the most stage wins of the season come the finish of ACI #rallymonza. Any Junior WRC crew starting this weekend's #rally has a mathematical chance of winning the Wolf Stage win points award with 16 stage win points up for grabs.
 
Maciej Woda, FIA Junior WRC Championship Manager, said: "I love championship finales; the atmosphere is always electric and there's a huge interest up and down the service park about who will come out on top in Junior WRC. Although five crews have a mathematical chance of winning the championship, we do have three contenders that have been fighting at the front all season. #tomkristensson has been in this position once before already which is a hugely significant advantage. Martins may not have Junior WRC championship finale experience, but he has faced a similar challenge in ERC Junior which will definitely help him. He is also really developing into a smart driver now which is great to see. #samipajari could be the first ever Finnish Junior WRC Champion if he wins the championship on Sunday. I have to say, Sami has got faster and faster on every #rally but, more significantly, he is developing into a very mature driver too."
 
38. Martins Sesks / Renars Francis
"I am not thinking about what I need to do to win the championship, I have been thinking about Monza all the time though. I don't regard myself as the leader of the championship for now, all I need to do is show my best skills on the stages and in the #rally."
 
39. #tomkristensson / Joakim Sjoberg 
"It's a nice position to be in, I think the situation is very different to last year even if the position is the same, still I am feeling very good. The difference now is that I am more confident in myself and in the car compared to last year. I have a good feeling and confidence I think it will be good."
 
40. #samipajari / Marko Salminen
"I will do as well as I can, that's the name of the game. Of course, I want to win, I think that's quite clear and I shouldn't need to say it, there are at least three guys who have a good chance of winning the championship. I will do my best and then we will see what happens."
 
41. #fabriziozaldivar / Peñate Rogelio
"It will be quite interesting this #rally with the circuit and also the tyre management and the tyres we use, that will be quite tricky to decide. If you do a clever strategy it could work out quite well but also it will be nice to drive a #rally car around Monza and the stages up in the mountains."
 
42. Ruairi Bell / Darren Garrod
"I'm just going to enjoy this weekend; we haven't had the most amount of fun on the last couple of rallies so that's the priority for us. Everything I said I wanted to happen in Sardinia before the #event didn't happen. In fact, the opposite happened. So, if I don't say anything now, maybe everything will happen. I'm staying in a nice hotel though."
 
43. Fabio Andolfi / Stefano Savoia 
"I hope to do a great job in the stages, and I want to do a good #rally. The other drivers are very fast guys."

2020 STAGE WINS
Sami Pajari 14
Martins Sesks 10
Tom Kristensson 8
Raul Badiu 2
Ken Torn 3
Robert Virves 2
Raul Badiu 2
Pontus Lönnström 2
 
RALLY D'ITALIA SARDINIA CLASSIFICATION
1. #tomkristensson / Joakim Sjöberg 3:07:49.1
2. #fabriziozaldivar / Fernando Mussano +11:25.4
3. Martins Sesks / Renars Francis +29:56.2 
4. Enrico Oldrati / Elia de Guio +37:01.1
5. #samipajari / Marko Salminen +58:14.7
6. Marco Pollara / Maurizio Messina +7:03.9
 
RETIRED:
Ruairi Bell / Darren Garrod
Fabio Andolfi / Stefano Savoia
 
RALLY ESTONIA CLASSIFICATION
1. Martins Sesks / Renars Francis 2:21:20.5
2. #samipajari / Marko Salminen +14.7 
3. Robert Virves / Sander Pruul +37.8 
4. Ruairi Bell / Matt Edwards +5:12.7 
5. Marco Pollara / Maurizio Messina +7:03.9
6. #fabriziozaldivar / Fernando Mussano +9:29.8 
7. Enrico Oldrati / Elia de Guio +10:44.7 
8. Raul Badiu / Gabriel Lazar +1:24:46.0
 
RETIRED:
Ken Torn / Kauri Pannas
Pontus Lonnstrom / Stefan Gustavsson
Tom Kristensson / Joakim Sjöberg
 
RALLY SWEDEN CLASSIFICATION
1. #tomkristensson / Joakim Sjoberg 1:22:51.3
2. Martins Sesks / Renars Francis +37.8
3. Ken Torn / Kauri Pannas +1:00.4
4. #samipajari / Marko Salminen +1:11.6
5. Raul Badiu / Gabriel Lazar +3:23.8
6. #fabriziozaldivar / Fernando Mussano +3:54.0
7. Ruairi Bell / Darren Garrod +04:01.0
8. Pontus Lönnström / Stefan Gustavsson +4:14.1
9. Lauri Joona / Ari Koponen +4:15.5
10. Marco Pollara / Maurizio Messina +6:10.2
11. Enrico Oldrati / Elia de Guio +6:14.4
12. Tommaso Ciuffi / Nicolo Gonella +10:11.4
13. Oscar Solberg / Jim Hjerpe +11:05.1
14. Catie Munnings / Ida Lidebjer-Granberg +11:16.2
 
RETIRED:
Fabio Andolfi / Stefano Savoia
Jon Armstrong / Noel O'Sullivan