Sesks had already impressed in Poland with his Ford Puma, but he didn’t yet have a hybrid unit at his disposal. In Latvia, however, Sesks had the hybrid and immediately impressed with his speed.
Sesks set the fastest times in the main class of the World Rally Championship for the first time in his career in front of his home crowd, and only extremely bad luck deprived him of his first career podium.
Technical problems at the end of the rally ultimately dropped Sesks to seventh place, but overall, Sesks’ performance was really good.
Among the other Ford drivers, Adrien Fourmaux continued his consistent performance, finishing fourth in the competition, and Gregoire Munster was tenth.
“What an incredibly tough end to an incredible event. Adrien scored another fantastic result this weekend and Gregoire continued the learning process, which of course we can be very happy about. However this weekend was all about Mārtiņs and Renars (Francis),” M-Sport team principal Richard Millener noted.
M-Sport knew the talent of Latvian Sesks when the team gave him the Ford Puma Rally1 car, but Millener was still surprised.
“When we embarked on this two event programme I don’t think anyone quite expected it to go like it has. They have really shown what they are capable of and to watch them over this weekend fighting side by side with drivers like Ott Tänak and Sebastien Ogier was incredible,” Millener praised.
The technology failed Sesks and his co-driver Renars Francis on the final special stage. However, Millener feels that this too can turn into a positive thing.
“I am totally devastated about what happened on the final stage, and I wish we could have delivered them the home podium, but WRC is tough, and it will be a tough lesson that will only help them get stronger into the future,” Millener believed.
Millener reminded that previous team drivers have also suffered bad luck on the final day of the rally but have always gotten back in the saddle.
“I have been in that situation before, with both Ott (Tänak) and Elfyn (Evans) hitting problems on the final stage – and both of them have gone on to do OK. I expect the same for Mārtiņs,” Millener recalled.
