Zemplén rally - Östberg won and also holds the Hungarian championship title

The 2020 world champion of the WRC2 category did not risk too much on Sunday's race day, so he finally triumphed with a lead of 2.7 seconds in the match organized with the Szerencs center. The 35-year-old competitor of Citroën Rally Team Hungary won every race - six out of seven - in the Hungarian championship in which he started, and became the first outright foreign winner in the history of domestic rally sports.

"We had a good weekend even with our penalty, which I didn't feel was fair this time. The knots were faster than we thought beforehand, but we managed to pay attention to our own pace and manage our race. I really enjoyed the whole season, hopefully we'll be back for a few more races in the future" Östberg told MTI.

Miklós Csomós and Attila Nagy, who competed in the European Championship (ERC) for most of the year, finished the Zemplén Rally in second place with their Skoda Fabia R5, while Ádám Velenczei, who was third overall before the race and finished in the same position, The duo Zsolt Vánsza (Skoda Fabia Rally2) was forced to abandon the season finale on Saturday due to a technical fault.

"We are proud of the fact that we managed to squeeze Östberg so much, I think few people in the world can do that. Unfortunately, I had two mistakes in the second stage on Saturday, we spun twice and gained 34 seconds, but we are still very happy with the result," Csomós assessed.

On the speedway in Zemplén, 2019 absolute Hungarian champion Ferenc Vincze finished third with navigator Gergely Németh by his side, in the Skoda Fabia R5 prepared by Korda Racing.

"I don't like to go like this and it's ugly to say this, but we made a reserve. We tried to use tactics, which worked for us, but our opponent didn't make any mistakes, but I think that being second overall behind a world champion is a very good result," said Vincze.

The finishing podium was set up in the imposing inner courtyard of the Rákóczi Castle in Szerencs, and the awards were presented by Deputy Minister Zsófia Koncz, regional parliamentarian, Tibor Nyiri, mayor of Szerencs, and Oláh Gyárfás, president of the Hungarian National Motorsport Association.

Final result, Zemplén Rally (12 speed stages, 150.98 km, the podium finishers):
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1. Mads Östberg, Johan Johansson (Norway, Sweden, Citroën C3 Rally2) 1:20:21.6 hours
2. Miklós Csomós, Attila Nagy (Skoda Fabia R5) 2.7 seconds behind
3. Ferenc Vincze, Gergely Németh (Skoda Fabia R5) 47.6 sec h.

(Source: autokalauz.co.hu; MTI | Image: pixabay.com)