Kalle Rovanperä wins Rally Latvia, cruel disappointment for Sesks

Ranking Rally of Latvia 2024:

Drivers Championship:

Manufacturers' Championship:

• And 14! Kalle Rovanperä and Janne Halttunen (Toyota) won their 21th victory this Saturday July 14 in WRC on the occasion of the Latvia Rally, a new destination on the world calendar. An unknown terrain which did not disturb the Finnish duo, who held the lead from start to finish, from the 1st to the 20th special!
• Absent from the previous round due to a road accident during reconnaissance in Poland, Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais give Toyota the double.
• The fight for the final 3rd place kept the spectators in suspense throughout the weekend. Author of two fastest times, the rookie Martins Sesks held this position... until a devastating Sunday morning. Stressed by the challenge, the Latvian made several driving errors, but the final blow was dealt by a mechanical failure on his Ford Puma Rally1 hybrid, which cost him more than 1 and a half minutes. A mishap which dropped him to 7th place which does not reflect his level of performance!
• Ott Tänak (Hyundai) therefore finished 3rd, not content with also pocketing the 5 points from the Power Stage as well as the points reserved for the winner of the Sunday stage. The 2019 champion took the opportunity to overtake Elfyn Evans (Toyota) in the championship in 2nd position.
• At M-Sport Ford, Adrien fourmaux scored a new top 5. The Frenchman made no mistakes and collected valuable points in the championship.
• Heavily handicapped by his position as opener in Latvia, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) could not do better than 8th place. The Belgian reassures himself with Sunday's points. His teammate Esapekka Lappi was of no help; lacking confidence on Friday and Saturday, he was struck by an engine problem on Sunday.
• In WRC2, Oliver Solberg (Skoda) was unbeatable. The son of Petter Solberg also dominated the debates like Rovanperä, being leader from A to Z. He is doing well in the championship because he takes the lead ahead of Sami Pajari (3rd in Latvia) and Yohan Rossel. The latter was absent in Latvia, so he will benefit from a greater number of rallies to compete in to rebuild his skills.
• Find out in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available Monday evening digitally and Wednesday on newsstands, analysis of the WRC in Latvia.