Mārtiņš Sesks delights Latvian spectators, secures back-to-back victory at Tet Rally liepāja
For the second year in a row, local favourites from Liepāja, Mārtiņš Sesks and Renārs Francis, took the victory in the FIA European Rally Championship's Latvian round, Tet Rally Liepāja. Sesks already showed strong pace on the Saturday, while on the second day of the rally, with four special stages taking place in the Dienvidkurzeme region, his lead over the second-place finisher, Hayden Paddon, was extended to 41.4 seconds.
In the Tet Rally Liepāja program today, the drivers were met with four long and tricky special stages. Notably, in SS7 Liepieni 1, four leading crews finished within one second of each other. The winner of the special stage, Mārtiņš Sesks (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2), had only a 0.3 second advantage over the second-place finisher, Mikko Heikkila (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 evo).
The Finnish athlete Heikkila continued to demonstrate his speed, first achieving the second-best result behind Sesks in SS8 Krogzemji 1, and later winning SS9 Liepieni 2. His pace would have allowed him to compete for a spot on the podium, but a 30 second penalty received on Saturday for late arrival at the time control, which relegated him to seventh place.
The overall leader of this season, Hayden Paddon (Hyundai i20 N Rally2), managed to secure the second place, finishing the rally 41.4 seconds behind Sesks. Both drivers completed the final special stage to the hundredth of a second equally, but when measured to the thousandth of a second, Sesks gained the maximum available five additional points. Meanwhile, the third step of the podium this time went to Mads Østberg (Citroën C3 Rally2). The final twist came in the closing special stage, which was in the Power Stage status, SS10 Krogzemji 2, where the Irishman Josh McErlean (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) overcame a 13.5 second handicap and, in the battle for the fourth place, surpassed Robert Virves (Ford Fiesta Rally2) from Estonia.
"Perfect! This weekend was very special for me! A big thank you goes to Team MRF Tyres, Sports Racing Technologies team, and everyone who was with us! Thanks to all the fans who spent three fantastic days here with dust, rain, and now a little bit of sun! I really enjoyed the opportunity to compete close to my home," Tet Rally Liepāja winner Mārtiņš Sesks commented on today's events.
"You can't relax here – it's very challenging to maintain speed while delivering a clean performance on the special stages. Throughout the day, we tried to preserve the tires to secure as many points as possible in the final special stage. All in all, a very good weekend, but there is more to come. Thanks to the team for the first half of the season," second-place finisher Hayden Paddon noted.
"Today, I couldn't find the grip; the car was sliding, and the handling wasn't the best. I did not really know what to do. In the end, we just tried to finish. The result is not perfect, but overall, I am satisfied. We are on the podium, so we need to stay positive and keep working," says Mads Østberg.
In the ERC3 category, Jon Armstrong (Ford Fiesta Rally3) continued to build on his lead. Winning three out of four special stages allowed him to surpass Jakub Matulka (Ford Fiesta Rally3) by 2 minutes and 3.2 seconds. A much tighter battle unfolded for the second place as Matulka managed to beat his compatriot Piotr Parys (Ford Fiesta Rally3) with just an 18.3 second margin.
In the Junior ERC category, Max McRae (Opel Corsa Rally4) lost the lead even before heading to the special stages due to a one-minute penalty for arriving too early at the service park time control. As a result, the lead shifted to the hands of the Norwegian Ola Nore Jr. (Renault Clio Rally4). McRae managed to keep the gap to less than a minute until the finish but ended up in fifth place. Meanwhile, Victor Hansen (Peugeot 208 Rally4) secured the second position, with the third place going to the Romanian crew of Norbert Maior (Peugeot 208 Rally4).
"Some time passed until we found our rhythm. Yesterday, we were lacking grip, and I think I was not driving well either. After SS3, I thought our hopes were gone, but we did not give up, and here we are. I have to give a big thanks to my co-driver, Torstein Eriksen. We are looking forward to more successes!" Ola Nore Jr. expressed his excitement.
In the overall standings of the FIA European Rally Championship after four rounds, Hayden Paddon maintains the lead with 113 points. Mārtiņš Sesks, with 78 points, has solidified his second position, but Mads Østberg is now following the Latvian by 8 points, moving into third place.
The results are available here: https://www.fiaerc.com/erc/wrcplus/live-timing/