The M-Sport team principal Millener: “I was surprised by Sesks stability”

The eighth round of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship, Tet Rally Latvia, has begun with an outstanding performance by local driver Mārtiņš Sesks. The Latvian, in the M-Sport Ford WRT team's Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID, is in second place after eight stages and was unbeaten in two of them. M-Sport team principal Richard Millener shared how the collaboration with Sesks started, as well as his experiences in Poland and the first days in Latvia.

This weekend M-Sport is in the centre of attention, how did the collaboration with Mārtiņš Sesks started?

WRC Promoter has a lot to do with it. They had a goal to find a way to get young drivers into Rally1 cars, to show the potential they have. They were able to help fund some of the programme for two events, and Mārtiņš helped with some part and we had some help from our end as well, so it is a joint project between three of us – Mārtiņš, Promoter and M-Sport. When we started discussing it, originally it was for Latvia, but then we discussed that maybe two events would be better. And that’s where the idea about non-hybrid came from, and I think that worked really well. As he said that adapting to the hybrid is taking more time, but now he’s got a rally under his belt with a non-hybrid. So it was a lot easier to forget that bit, and now concentrate just on hybrid. He’s done incredibly well in Poland, and extremely well here.

What would be the biggest risks if he would have gone with hybrid already in Poland?

I think just the pressure and expectations as you’re already up against the others in equal machinery, and people can very quickly jump to conclusion that you’re not fast enough, if you’re not fighting against them. So the idea was to put him in a car, where he has his own class, so it’s just him learning the car and learning the event. But as it turned out, he was very competitive as well. Also, these cars are so different from Rally2, so learning one step at a time was a very good idea and I’m glad we did that.

Is Mārtiņš driving similar car as Adrien and Grégoire is driving, there is no differences?

They are identical. M-Sport always have liked to have the same cars for everyone. There is no point of having anything different, because otherwise he wouldn’t be able to do what he’s doing for us, and he’s currently second in the rally, so it’s our advantage to make sure he has the right stuff.

Were you expecting that the results would be so good?

In Poland I wasn’t so surprised about the speed, he’s very quick on these kind of roads, he has grown up on roads like these. But I was quite surprised of his consistency over the weekend, making no mistakes and fighting with Thierry and others all weekend. Coming here, I expected again him to be fast, but I would not have said that he would be second after the day. But I expected maybe 4th-5th-6th place, somewhere around that. To take two stage wins and be second was a bit of surprise, especially when you speak to him and his quite relaxed and he looks like he’s all okay. That’s really nice to see.

What are the things that you would say that Mārtiņš has to work on to get even better?

This weekend is just about this weekend. After the weekend then we will see what opportunities there are, and reflect on what he’s done. But now it’s just about this rally.

What about other youngsters – this was programme for Mārtiņš, but maybe there is some plans for something similar with other drivers in the upcoming rounds?

The goal of the programme was to allow him showcase himself, and the Promoter would like to do more, M-Sport would like to do more, but we should let other people have the opportunity as well. I think it’s been really successful, and Mārtiņš has definitely put himself on the radar of other teams and us, of what he can achieve on these fast rallies. It would be very interesting to see how he would go on a rally he maybe doesn’t know so well. But honestly these all things have to be discussed in the weeks to come, today we just concentrate on the next two days.

Does having a local driver help with some organizational things and stuff like that?

That’s what we did, Martiņš has helped us with some of the things here, like some hotels and travel connections. And I’ve removed that cost from his price, so there’s always a bit of negotiation, and helping each other. Having a local driver is always a help in the local rally, because they have good contacts.

Tet Rally Latvia tickets available at Biļešu Paradīze online store www.bilesuparadize.lv.

News and other information about the Tet Rally Latvia, round of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), available at www.lvrally.com, as well as on social media X @LVRally, Facebook @LVRally, Instagram @lvrally, and TikTok @tetrallylatvia. While, news about the FIA World Rally Championship available at www.wrc.com.

Tet Rally Latvia, round of the FIA World Rally Championship, is set to take place on July 18-21, 2024. The event is possible thanks to the support provided by Ministry of Education and Science, rally city Liepāja and capital city Rīga, as well as municipalities of Tukums, Talsi, and Kuldīga. Special thanks to general sponsor Tet, many thanks to our main sponsors Ramirent, Sportland, and X3000, official car partner Toyota, as well as sponsors BTA, Fristads, and SIXT. Thanks to our partners Canon Biznesa Centrs Liepāja, Latvijas Valsts meži and municipality of Dienvidkurzeme. Informative support provided by news portal DELFI, Kurzemes Radio, Sporta Avīze un Talsu Vēstis. Thanks to Tet Rally Latvia supporters shopping malls AKROPOLE, AOK, Ballīte Ballītē, Biķernieku trase, Conti STL, Conway, CSDD, DHL, Eco Baltia vide, Elnetworks, Flora, FN Serviss, Getic, Jānis Pūce, Löfbergs, Liepāja Special Economic Zone, MB Grupa, Mission Latvia, OCT Composites, Peltors, Rentadisplay, Rīgas Brīvostas pārvalde, Riga Motormusem, SignTech, Swecon, Swan, Törley, Travel Latvia, as well as technical partner Sports Racing Technologies. Tet Rally Latvia is organised by RA Events in cooperation with Speed Festival Kurzeme and Latvian Automobile Federation.

Tet Rally Latvia supports initiatives carried out by Latvian Children's Support Centre, who has created and are developing social rehabilitation facility for children with special needs. We invite you to support this initiative, by making a donation here: http://www.lbaf.lv/lv/ka-ziedot.