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World RX drivers honored at prize-giving in Porto

The FIA Off-Road Prize-Giving Gala took place last weekend at Porto in Portugal, hosted by the Portuguese ASN, the FPAK.

The champions and overall trophy winners in the FIA World Rallycross Championship and FIA European Rallycross Championship categories were awarded their hard-earned prizes at the event. World Champion Mattias Ekstrom was joined by Johan Kristoffersson and Andreas Bakkerud on the World RX rostrum, while Kevin Hansen, Jermone Grosset-Janin and Tord Linnerud collected the top three Supercar trophies in Euro RX.

In Super1600, champion Kristian Szabo was awarded the front-wheel drive Euro RX category title, accompanied by second and third placed finishers Ulrik Linnemann and Timur Shigaboutdinov. Ben-Philip Gundersen collected the top prize in the Euro RX TouringCar division, joined by Magda Andersson who just missed out on the 2016 title, and Fredrik Magnussen.

It was also revealed in Porto that the Latvian round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2016 - organised by RA Events - received the highest score by FIA Observers of the 12 World RX rounds, with scoring criteria focusing on track equipment, safety, professionalism, organisation and marketing. "Our contract with FIA World Rallycross Championship promoter IMG states that we will be able to host top level racing here in Latvia for at least three years," said RA Events director, Raimonds Strokšs. "We set a goal of organising the best event in the championship in one of those three years, but accomplishing that in our first year is absolutely unbelievable. I am thrilled that we have justified the trust put in us, and have showed the world that Latvia is a wonderful place."

The prize-giving took place in conjunction with the first FIA Off-Road Commission meeting of the year, and the FIA-led seminars for event organisers, Clerks of the Course, Stewards and technical officials.

Zdroj: fiaworldrallycross.com