Tänak applauds WRC’s young driver efforts

WRC Promoter and M-Sport Ford offered 24-year-old Sesks a two-event programme at the highest level of rallying. After an impressive fifth-place finish at ORLEN 80th Rally Poland, Sesks upgraded to a hybrid-powered Puma Rally1 for his home round in Latvia last week where he won two stages alongside co-driver Renars Francis.

Sesks was on track for an extraordinary third-place finish before a transmission issue slowed his Puma 600 metres after the start of the Wolf Power Stage on Sunday, dropping him to seventh place and promoting Tänak to the final podium spot.

Following the eighth round, 2019 WRC champion Tänak praised Sesks and the efforts behind the scenes that facilitated his performance.

“I mean, fair play from the promoter and M-Sport,” Tänak said, “and everyone, the local government and the organisers. To put events like this on the table and then you bring a driver like this, you could see how many people it brings together and what kind of community it creates.

“It’s been impressive to see how, actually, Mārtiņš has also delivered. I’m sure it made everyone proud and also brought to WRC many more fans and supporters as well.”

Tänak’s event was not without its challenges, including brake issues on Friday and a transmission problem on Saturday’s final stage. Nevertheless, he outscored his main title rivals Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans.

The Estonian now trails team-mate Neuville by eight points in the drivers’ championship while Toyota’s Evans sits just five points further back with five rounds remaining.

“We managed to get back into a rhythm after a difficult Friday, where we definitely had the wrong tyre choice and were struggling with the set-up. We didn’t have a good starting position on Saturday, so it felt like the cards were not in our favour, but we have managed to take the absolute maximum from Sunday.

“Finland is next, and it’s one of my favourite events – those roads are made for rallies. Toyota will be very fast again, but we will give it our all – we are always full attack.”