Ott Tänak has closed to just 4.6 seconds behind Mārtiņš Sesks’ Rally Latvia podium, and into the joint-lead of the Super Sunday standings, as both works M-Sport cars ran into issues on the penultimate stage.
Sesks has been running inside the podium places ever since the event hit the gravel on Friday morning, but a messy Sunday has meant he’s lost touch with second-placed Sébastien Ogier and instead fallen into the clutches of Tänak.
Tänak started the second pass of the Krogzemji stage 12.7 seconds behind Sesks but found 8.1s over his rival to move tantalizingly close to an overall podium.
Before knowing Sesks’ stage time, the 2019 world champion appeared sure that Sesks was out of reach, but Sesks reckons he was “lying, probably”.
But at least he had an explanation for why he lost so much time on SS19.
“We missed a junction,” Sesks said. “We tried, I overpushed, we made a mistake.”
Fourmaux's Ford Puma did not sound particularly healthy at the finish line of Krogzemji 2
“We’ll just keep it steady, if he will come he will come,” Sesks added. “He’s a world champion, so…”
Tänak’s push also enabled him to draw level with Ogier in the Super Sunday classification – the pair 1.6s ahead of rally leader Kalle Rovanperä.
Provided he completes the powerstage, Tänak has already secured more points than championship rivals Elfyn Evans (sixth) and Thierry Neuville (eighth) by finishing ahead on Saturday, but is set to gain another three points on Evans and five on Neuville with them lying fourth and sixth on Super Sunday respectively.
Neuville is level with Adrien Fourmaux in Sunday’s classification but, despite gaining time on the Hyundai, Fourmaux looks to be in trouble as he arrived at the end of SS19 with an over-revving Puma.
Confirming he had “an issue”, the Frenchman then swiftly left the stop-line. Worryingly for M-Sport, Fourmaux’s team-mate Grégoire Munster was also carrying an issue aboard his Puma Rally1 – although it wasn’t obvious what.
Asked if he could divulge what the problem was, Munster replied: “No… sorry.”
