António Cruz Monteiro wins Templários Rally Classic by 0.9 seconds
News date: 6 May 2022
The race organized by the Motor Clube of Tomar was attended by almost five dozen teams.
The race organized by the Motor Clube of Tomar was attended by almost five dozen teams.
The thousands of spectators who, during the two days of competition, attended the timed sections and the nightly Super Special that were part of this 2022 edition of the Templários Rally Classic, witnessed a Rally “Legend” that went far beyond the spectacle with competitive emotion until the end.
At the controls of the Peugeot 208 T16 R5 of the Grupo NOV LPM team, the pilot from Leiria, navigated by Nuno Sousa, came out on top of a relentless duel that he fought with Carlos Fernandes and Pedro Afonso, the latter at the controls of a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI, achieving the first outright victory of his career.
António Cruz Monteiro, in the penultimate special test, made a tremendous time and won, putting the Peugeot 208 T16 R5 in command, as Carlos Fernandes suffered the consequences of a pedestrian and lost 9.6 seconds.
As such, the ultimate special saw the two depart by 2.2 seconds apart.
Carlos Fernandes “flew” to a colossal time that would give him the triumph in the section, but António Cruz Monteiro responded “to the letter” taking 6.6 seconds from his first pass mark and held the triumph by 9 tenths!
The rally regulations contemplated three different groups, Open, Sport and Historic.
António Cruz Monteiro and Nuno Sousa were naturally the winning team in the Open, with Carlos Fernandes and Pedro Afonso taking the lead in Sport. Among the Historics, Vítor Cardeira and João Sequeira imposed their Ford Escort MKII, finishing in an excellent 9th place overall among the 36 teams that managed to complete the race.