Beca Júnior R2: Josep Bassas, victory and title

31/10/2019

The Beca Júnior R2, organized for the third consecutive season by the RFEdeA, had in the 55 RallyRACC its fifth and penultimate round of the calendar. Josep Bassas was able to secure the title thanks to his victory in the World Championship event, his fourth this year.

A total of 6 teams were entered at the RallyRACC, and they could only get points in the six stages of the first day, most of them on gravel, though the last one has some tarmac areas. At the start it was Sergi Francolí/María Salvo, who took the lead in the first two stages, but a puncture in the third stage set them back to the fourth place, more than two minutes behind the new leaders, Josep Bassas/Axel Coronado, at the end of the first loop, Julio Martínez/Yeray Mujica had already retired due to a mechanical problem in their Ford Fiesta R2T.

During the second pass through the stages of Gandesa, Horta-Bot and La Fatarella-Vilalba, Josep Bassas only needed to manage his advantage over the rest, securing the win and the Champion title after last year's winners Efrén Llarena and Jan Solans. The Catalan driver, with the support of RACC, wins the prize of the federation and will be able to participate next year in the FIA European rally championship with a R2 category car.

The second place in this RallyRACC was for the just 18-year-old Delbin García, who, together with Cándido Carrera, had his best performance of the season. The third place was for Iago Gabeiras/Alejandro López, who were affected by the neutralization of the last stage due to the accident suffered by another participant and they could not finish after being the fastest in the fifth stage. The classification was closed by Sergi Francolí, who won the fourth stage, while Santi García/Néstor Casal (Peugeot 208 R2) were not able to finish due breaking the wheel studs in the second pass through Horta-Bot.

Final Classification 55 RallyRACC – Beca Júnior R2
1-Pep Bassas/Axel Coronado (Peugeot 208 R2), 1h36'43''7
2-Delbin García/Cándido Carrera (Peugeot 208 R2), a 1'18''4
3-Iago Gabeiras/Alejandro López (Peugeot 208 R2), a 1'40''6
4-Sergi Francolí/María Salvo (Peugeot 208 R2), a 2'05''4

Provisional Classification Beca Júnior R2 (after 5 rounds of 6)
1-Josep Bassas, 119 points
2-Sergi Francolí, 94 points
3-Iago Gabeiras, 63 points
4-Santiago García, 52 points
5-Óscar Palomo, 49 points
6-Delbin García, 43 points
7-José María G. Reyes, 21 points
8-Álvaro Pérez, 14 points
9-Raúl Hernández, 9 points
10-Julio Andrés Martínez, 0 points