M-Sport is treating Martins Sesek's appearance in Rally Chile as an “extended audition” within the World Rally Championship because the Ford team continues to evaluate the young driver's skills for the long run.
Rising star Sesks and co-driver Renars Francis won their third Ford Puma Rally1 appearance this 12 months after impressive performances, ending fifth and seventh respectively within the rounds in Poland and Latvia earlier this 12 months.
The opportunity to pilot a non-hybrid Puma in Chile was made possible due to further support from the WRC organizer, which helped finance the Latvians' last two appearances in Rally1.
Sesks's status as a future talent was enhanced by taking his first stage wins in Latvia on his technique to fighting for a probable third place, before his Puma suffered a mechanical problem on the ultimate stage.
The 24-year-old's performance impressed M-Sport enough to emerge as a possible candidate for more races in the long run because the team considers its options for 2025.
Team principal Richard Millener is looking forward to seeing how Sesks will perform in Chile – a rally that shall be a very latest challenge for the 2023 European Rally Championship runner-up.
“I think there is a lot of interest in his skills from many parties and there are a lot of discussions about Latvia, Poland, which are very similar events, home events and his good knowledge, can this be replicated in some way?” Millener told Autosport.
Martins Sesks, Renars Francis, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo: McKlein / Motorsport Images
“I don't need to expect him to fight for the rostrum again in Latvia. We would really like to see one other rally with none problems, where he finishes without mistakes and successfully achieves a very good result, which I feel will be achieved by also being smart.
“The fight for the title shall be really big and Chile can also be quite a difficult rally. It's fast and technical. I wouldn't be surprised if there have been a number of accidents.
“If he can get into the highest five again, that's unbelievable, that's more of a goal, so I feel it's a little bit of an extended audition. However, I actually cannot say that he’ll sign a contract with us for next 12 months. It's only a matter of seeing what else we will do for these young drivers.
“I feel he has already proven what he’s able to, and the chance to accomplish that also got here due to the push from M-Sport, but in addition due to the promoter and Martins, who has his own ideas.
“It's a good opportunity for us to see what a completely new environment throws at him without much warning. What he can do and how he goes about it.”
In addition to a set of completely latest stages to learn, Sesks runs without hybrid drive, identical to its debut in Poland. The performance deficit of the hybrid Rally1 cars was minimal on these fast gravel stages, however the deficit is more likely to increase on Chile's technical roads.
“Of course, the big challenge will be going to South America and driving a Rally1 car for the first time in Chile,” Sesks said.
Martins Sesks, Renars Francis, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo: M-Sport
“I feel it’ll be an important adventure, something latest again, and now we are attempting to organize for the rally. We observe the decks and see things much like some European rallies.
“It shall be just a little tougher for us to drive a non-hybrid automotive, but again it's a chance to indicate pace and not using a hybrid, and if we will do it there, it’ll be even higher. Our experiences from Poland and Latvia shall be very helpful in understanding the automotive. It shall be a challenge, but we’re looking forward to it. “
Sesks isn’t the one rising star to be offered a rare appearance in Rally 1 this weekend, with Toyota fielding a Sami Pajari in certainly one of 4 GR Yaris. The Finn replaced regular Takamoto Katsuta, who will survive the trip to South America.
