Baltic Brilliance: Latvia delivers on WRC debut

It was a simple one: “Mār-tiņš” but it worked and last week’s Tet Rally Latvia provided one of the highlights of the year so far. When an agreement was reached for Mārtiņš Sesks to drive two WRC rounds – Poland in a non-hybrid Ford Puma Rally1 and his home event in one of the full factory M-Sport cars – few could have imagined the impact it would have on a nation and the current WRC season.

Latvia’s love of rallying, it’s fair to say, has ebbed and flowed slightly down the years, but looking on at what it’s Baltic neighbour Estonia has achieved in the last decade has inspired both confidence and commitment out of Riga and Liepāja. Last week was the end product – and what a stunning product it was too.

The capital city wrapped its arms around the rally, while the whole country went out of its way to make the WRC welcome. And what a country it was too, with the beautiful forests and backdrops filled with well-behaved fans enjoying a level of organisation which absolutely belied the fact that this was the country’s first visit to the WRC calendar.

But the best thing? The support for Sesks and co-driver Renārs Francis. Latvia landed itself a pair of national heroes last week. And they made sure the rest of the world knew about it.