A gutted M-Sport Ford team principal Richard Millener feels the team let Mārtiņš Sesks down at the last minute after a heartbreaking powerstage in which the Latvian lost a near-certain podium finish.
Starting just his second World Rally Championship event at the top level on Rally Latvia, and his first with a fully hybrid Rally1 car, Sesks starred to take two stage wins on Friday morning and put eventual winner Kalle Rovanperä under pressure.
While Rovanperä, and latterly Sébastien Ogier, ultimately proved too strong for Sesks to resist, he gave them a good run for their money despite his inexperience. He looked set to claim a maiden WRC podium at his home event – holding a 4.6-second advantage over Ott Tänak prior to the final stage.
But after 600m of the powerstage, Sesks realized he was in trouble and limped his Ford Puma Rally1 home to an eventual seventh.
Sesks was on for a career-first WRC podium finish before technical trouble on the last stage
“It was a launch start and it was 600 meters and it was a right-hander, a hairpin. Everything was fine for the 600 meters. Then we turned into the right-hander, first gear and second, and then something snapped and we almost didn’t make it to the next corner,” Sesks described to DirtFish.
“Because at that moment you don’t understand what’s happening, but straight after that you know that it’s done. You just need to finish and limp mode back.”
The precise nature of the issue is not yet known, but it doesn’t change the result. Millener is devastated that Sesks wasn’t able to get the result he feels he deserved.
“From a team perspective, I’m absolutely gutted,” Millener told DirtFish.
“I feel like we’ve let him down at the last second. You never know what’s happening but, it’s just…everybody’s working so hard as normal really but when you get to this point, you’re so close and I was really looking forward to watching that battle on the last stage. I think as everybody was. So I can only apologize for ruining people’s viewing because I wanted to watch it as much as anybody else.
You can argue road position, local knowledge, all you like, you’ve still got to drive this thing down the road at 120mphRichard Millener
“It’s hard for me to take, but I can’t imagine what it’s like for him to take. I think his reaction when he got here just goes to show his professionalism, to be honest.
“It’s going to hurt in the next couple of days for him, that’s for sure. But what he achieved this weekend, you can’t add anything more to what Ott said at the end of the stage.
“You can argue road position, local knowledge, all you like, you’ve still got to drive this thing down the road at 120mph, through the trees, and to hold off Sébastien Ogier for a day, day and a half, it’s pretty impressive.”
Sesks himself cut an optimistic figure – focusing on the huge positives from the weekend rather than the obvious negative.
“Of course we cannot complain about anything,” he said.
“We had 19 crazy stages and there’s some ups and downs, but being between world champions all the time, it was something I think I would just understand in a few days.
“I think these are the memories and all the kind and wise words which they said after the finish. From wins and good results, you don’t learn as much as from these hard things, I’d say.”
Millener has experienced heartbreak before, when Elfyn Evans lost a certain victory in Corsica
Millener has already offered Sesks a crumb of comfort though, sharing his experience from the 2019 Tour de Corse when a final stage puncture for Elfyn Evans took away what was set to be Millener’s first WRC win as a team principal.
“I’m just very disappointed that it ended like we had. But as I said to him, I’ve been here before actually, in Corsica in 2019 on the powerstage with Elfyn on for a podium, puncture, dropped down, you know,” he said.
“I said to him, ‘Elfyn’s done alright since then, so you never know’. [It] might be hard right now, but there could be better things to come – will be – better things to come.”
