Like so many other drivers, Sesks suffered a puncture on the final stage of the afternoon loop, and all his hard work seemed about to go to waste.
Sesks eventually limped to the finish of the last stage on just the rim and lost nearly a minute to the leaders. His stroke of luck in misfortune was that Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux, who had also been fighting him for the win, suffered the same fate.
Thus, Sesks dropped from the lead, but Fourmaux – who had moved to the top of the standings – still held the top spot at this stage by a few seconds. In the end, however, Sesks got his lead back when Fourmaux was handed a one-minute time penalty for checking in one minute early to the technical zone before service.
Sesks did not yet know this in the evening, instead focusing on recounting his dramatic moments on the deflated tyre in his media interviews.
“I tried to drive really, really carefully. But then… under braking on a straight I didn’t even see what it was — maybe a rock or a hole — and straight away we had a puncture,” Sesks said.
“It happened on the last fast section, so within the final ten kilometres or so. The tyre still felt quite good and stayed on the rim, so I took the risk,” Sesks admitted openly.
According to Sesks, changing the tyre mid-stage simply wasn’t an option.
“A tyre change would have taken at least a minute and a half, and this was the last special stage of the day. I was just hoping for the best – and in a way it paid off,” he said.
Sesks is now on course for the first rally win of his career in the top category. The Latvian, however, chose his words carefully when talking about his goals for Saturday.
“The whole day has been a battle from start to finish. We’ll see – we’ll just keep doing our own thing,” he remarked.
The conditions in the Saudi Arabia rally and the numerous dramatic events have surely come as a surprise even to the most experienced drivers – and Sesks’ own feelings were also somewhat incredulous.
“The rally is great and enjoyable, but today there have been many completely crazy things happening,” he reflected.
