Adrien Fourmaux has brought the British private team three podium finishes. In the previous round, Latvian Martins Sesks also impressed, despite driving the rally without a hybrid unit.
In his home rally, which started on Thursday evening in the capital city of Riga, Sesks will also have the hybrid unit at his disposal. Considering Sesks’ extensive experience in his home rally, expectations are clearly high.
“I’m looking forward to Latvia, it’s always nice to welcome a brand-new event to the championship, and I’ve heard a lot about this event during its time in ERC. The highlight this week will undoubtedly be running Mārtiņš on his home rally, we’re expecting he will get a lot of attention in the service park,” team boss Richard Millener enthuses.
“I’m excited to see what he can achieve as a two-time winner of this rally, and especially now with full-hybrid power at his disposal.”
The Latvian driver himself is also very excited. Although the goal is to complete all the kilometres in his second WRC rally with a top-tier car, surely there will be comparisons to the front-runners’ pace after every stage.
“After one day of testing, there’s still a lot to find out about what we can do with this extra speed of hybrid. We are well aware that on better-known roads, our attention to pacenote details has to be two times more,” Sesks says.
“But it’s clear that our country’s first-ever WRC round is going to be a thrilling mix of speed and challenges – and that’s exactly what gets our hearts racing”
Fourmaux, who grabbed a third place a couple of weeks ago in a similar Rally Poland, also enters the competition with high goals.
“Latvia rally will be the second of the three fast gravel rallies this season, and I don’t really know what to expect! There aren’t as many jumps as in Poland, but it’s still a really fast rally with a loose surface on the top,” Fourmaux notes.
“After the great result we had in Poland, we want to try and match that and even better it if we can. It’s going to be interesting to see where we are when it’s a new rally for nearly everybody.”
