Sesks made a big impression just last year in Poland, when he fought for a podium finish until the end as the rally was held at WRC level. The Latvian driver set two fastest times during Saturday morning’s loop, but Finnish driver Roope Korhonen and Poland’s Miko Marczyk remain within striking distance.
Korhonen, who set one fastest time in the morning, is only 5.6 seconds behind Sesks. Meanwhile, Marczyk trails the leader by 8.6 seconds. Although Sesks lost his front bumper, he was still able to go fastest on the loop’s final stage, just one second ahead of Marczyk.
Korhonen leads the ERC standings after winning in Hungary and finishing second in Sweden. Sesks mainly competes in the World Rally Championship but wanted to take part in one of his favourite events.
“We didn’t even know we had lost the front bumper. Something in the aerodynamics is probably missing because the car felt quite unstable on the straights. Perhaps we brushed too many bushes already, but everything is fine so far,” said Sesks.
“This was a really difficult stage. We had problems with the pacenotes. We hit a bank hard, and I thought we had a puncture. Luckily, that wasn’t the case,” Korhonen reported.
Swedish driver Isak Reiersen currently holds fourth place. However, the Škoda driver is already 17.2 seconds off the lead. Behind the Swede in fifth is Norway’s Mads Østberg, followed by Ireland’s Jon Armstrong.
Four more special stages are scheduled for Saturday in Rally Poland. The event will conclude on Sunday.
Rally Poland, standings after SS4/14:
| POS. | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1. | Martins Sesks | Skoda | 27:38.6 |
| 2. | Roope Korhonen | Toyota | +5.6 |
| 3. | Mikolaj Marczyk | Skoda | +8.6 |
| 4. | Isak Reiersen | Skoda | +17.2 |
| 5. | Mads Östberg | Citroen | +18.8 |
| 6. | Jon Armstrong | Ford | +20.0 |
| 7. | Andrea Mabellini | Skoda | +30.8 |
| 8. | Simone Tempestini | Skoda | +41.4 |
| 9. | Mille Johansson | Skoda | +47.4 |
| 10. | Jakub Matulka | Skoda | +51.0 |
