Sesks got the opportunity to compete in Poland with the M-Sport Ford Rally1 car for the first time in his career and has responded in an incredible way.
Sesks is driving the Ford Puma Rally1 car, which does not have a hybrid unit. This makes the car lighter, but of course, it also reduces the power.
Sesks is sensationally in fifth place in the overall standings before the final Sunday of the rally.
Toyota’s team manager Jari-Matti Latvala said on Saturday that he would not have believed the Latvian could achieve such a good performance. Sesks’s performance was warmly welcomed in the Toyota camp. For good reason.
“We celebrated when he managed to keep Thierry Neuville behind him by a tenth of a second. Those were two important points for us!”, Latvala rejoiced to RallyJournal.com.
Sesks was able to help Toyota, but Latvala was otherwise happy for the young Latvian and very impressed with his performance.
“I thought that without the hybrid, the gap would be bigger. Of course, the importance of the hybrid in such a competition is smaller than in a technical competition”, Latvala pondered.
In Poland, the speeds are high and there are fewer corners than in many other competitions. This naturally also reduces the importance of the hybrid.
“Here the braking is shorter than, for example, in Sardinia, where there are longer braking sections followed by straights where you can immediately use the hybrid. Here, you don’t get that”, Latvala explained.
“He has driven really well and managed to keep Neuville behind him. That is a really tough achievement”, Latvala enthused.
Sesks has suddenly become the hottest name in rallying. Toyota is naturally interested in all promising drivers, but this fish may have slipped away.
“Yes, we have already noted his name, but I think Ford has probably put in a bit more effort”, Latvala laughed.
