Ott Tanak described Martins Sesks’ Rally Latvia performance as “incredible” after a mechanical issue cruelly denied the World Rally Championship Rally1 rookie a shot at an extraordinary podium.
In only his second Rally1 start and his first with a hybrid powered car, European Rally Championship runner-up Sesks occupied the podium positions until the final stage.
Sesks netted his maiden WRC stage win on Friday in stage three before adding to that on the next test. The 24-year-old then held off eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier through Friday’s stages to sit second to rally leader Kalle Rovanpera, before losing the position on Saturday.
Sesks was in fight with Tanak for the final podium spot on Sunday before his M-Sport Ford Puma developed a mechanical issue at the start of the final stage, when he had a 4.6s margin over Tanak. In the end, Sesks managed to bring the car home in seventh.
Tanak was among several onlookers impressed by the Latvian which he consoled following the dramatic finish.
“I must say what an incredible job he has done. He may know the roads and be on the roads but nobody can take his driving away,” said Tanak.
“For sure it is shame and I told him it tastes bad in this moment, but it is an experience, and it makes you hungry. I'm sure if it gets more chance to drive it will give him a little extra boost.”
Reflecting on the heartbreaking finish, Sesks felt he done everything he could throughout the rally and his previous outing in Poland, which was made possible by the WRC Promoters and his sponsors.
“After the stage Ott came and he said that he had been in this position, and he said it looked too easy. And of course, maybe it looked too easy from the outside in Poland and in Latvia,” said Sesks.
“We really did our job. The most important thing is if we had finished in the top three it was because we had a good pace and the team was working perfectly, it wasn’t just good fortune.
“We did a good job. This is a thing in racing sometimes you have technical issues and of course it is shame it happened before these final 13 kilometres, but it is how it is.”
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener hailed Sesks’ performance as “amazing” and was gutted that a car issue robbed his driver a shot at a memorable podium result.
“I feel like we let him down as a team. I don’t know what has happened,” Millener told Autosport.
“We will worry about that when we get a chance, but it is irrelevant right now, but to do everything you can fight that hard and end up like that is a real shame.
“What he did was amazing. He kept fighting and kept going.
“He never got to show us what he could have done on that stage. I think it genuinely would have been very close.
“It's what the championship wants and needs and that's what the goal of this programme was so I'm very happy that we've achieved it. I'm just not really happy we didn’t get him the podium.”
