The Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis rally crew, supported by Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT), celebrates their victory in the Alūksne Rally on saturday. In their first outing with the Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 sports car, the Liepāja-based team did not want to take too many risks, but wanted to learn how to operate the new car and the finer points of their own driving, but the battle for victory in the rally turned out to be intense.
The Alūksne Rally started with two night stages, where Sesks/Francis collected the first handicap. On the second day of competition, after SS3 and SS4, the team further extended its lead, and although they lost Jēts in SS5 and SS6, Sesks/Francis maintained a 6.97-second advantage. The last four stages of the race passed with changing leads, but the duo from Liepāja kept the first pace, and in SS10 was the fastest.
Mārtiņš Sesks: “In the final phase, we simply did our job and, unlike our fans, did not think much about our result. We feel sorry for the withdrawal of Jēts in SS9, so a healthy tone of competition disappeared.”
“The victory was an added value, because the main thing was that we could handle the car. You can not say we figured everything out, but it’s more understandable. That’s why we were in Aluksne this weekend, that’s why we trained and prepared so that these things are clear in two weeks in Portugal,” said Sesks.
As early as Tuesday evening, the sports car and the Sports Racing Technologies team will leave the port of Liepāja for the first stage of the European Rally Championship (ERC). The ERC Portugal event of the Rally Serras de Fafe e Felgueiras from March 10 to 12 will be held mostly on gravel, while the second stage on May 5 and 6 in the Canary Islands will be on asphalt.
You can follow the sporting progress of the team on the accounts of social networks: “Twitter” @MSesks, “Facebook” @MartinsSesksRallying, “Instagram” @martins_sesks and on the website https://www.martinssesks.com
Photos – Raimonds Volonts, Jānis Asaris
