Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera opened up a 15.7s lead over local rising star Martins Sesks on WRC Rally Latvia as the two young guns stole the show on Friday’s super-fast opening leg.
Latvia’s FIA World Rally Championship debut marks something of a homecoming for 23-year-old Finn Rovanpera, who started his first-ever rally at the age of just 12 on the Baltic nation’s flowing gravel roads.
Helped by his stage win on Thursday’s opener at the Biķernieki rallycross track in the capital, Riga, Rovanpera was never headed on Friday and won four of the day’s seven high-speed gravel road tests in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. The reigning world champ is taking on only a limited schedule in 2024, so his relatively lowly position in the WRC points standings gave him a more favorable starting position, meaning cleaner road conditions, over several of his full-season rivals.
But it was 24-year-old hotshot Sesks, contesting only his second WRC event in the top-tier Rally1 class and utilizing hybrid power for the first time in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1, whose performance stood out the most.
Sesks, co-driven by fellow Latvian Renars Francis, delighted the masses of local fans when he grabbed his first-ever WRC stage win on the day’s second stage at Tukums, passing eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier in the process. Then, confirming the arrival of a new WRC star, the 24-year-old backed it up with another fastest time on the very next test.
“It’s amazing,” said Sesks, who ended the 75-mile leg 5.9s clear of third-placed Ogier’s GR Yaris. “It’s been so emotional today, and yesterday as well. I think these next two days will be the same.”
Takamoto Katsuta’s all-in approach to the leg-ending 12.75-mile Talsi stage helped the Toyota driver pass Hyundai i20 N Rally1 driver Ott Tanak and claim fourth overall. He ended the day 11.6s adrift of Ogier, with M-Sport Ford man Adrien Fourmaux, who also passed Tanak for position in the same stage, just 5.3s behind.
Tanak, meanwhile, fell from fourth to sixth overall after a challenging day. The Estonian reported a lack of confidence early on, as well as a brake issue which he partly fixed on the roadside after the penultimate stage.
Elfyn Evans, currently second in the WRC points for Toyota, trailed the leaders by more than 50s in seventh. Although he was not hit as hard by “road sweeping” the loose gravel as Hyundai’s championship leader and first car on the road Thierry Neuville, the Toyota ace was second in the starting order and struggled to find traction with no real clean line to follow.
Tire damage cost Hyundai part-timer Esapekka Lappi a handful of seconds on the day’s fourth stage, but the Finn was quick to point out that his main problems lay “between the steering wheel and the seat…” He dropped back to 10th overall after the closing stage, languishing behind Grégoire Munster’s Puma Rally1 and Neuville.
In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Oliver Solberg led by more than a half minute, despite reporting a strange feeling aboard his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.
The Swede, who currently lies third in the WRC2 championship standings, is already on the path toward claiming his second class victory of the season after he posted fastest times on six of Friday’s seven stages, ending 31.1s clear of closest challenger Mikko Heikkila’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
Despite dominating the timesheets, however, Solberg struggled with a lack of traction that led to plenty of slides throughout the day, and he even dialed back his speed in the afternoon to compensate for it.
“I’ve been happy with the driving all day, but the feeling in the car is a different feeling,” revealed the son of 2003 WRC champ Petter Solberg. “[I’ve been] trying to take care of the tires and just be clean.”
The high-speed gravel tests keep on coming on Saturday’s second leg, with eight special stages totaling 64.6 competitive miles.
WRC Rally Latvia, positions after Leg One, SS8
1 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1h08m44.5s
2 Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +15.7s
3 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +21.6s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +33.2s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1) +38.5s
6 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +38.8s
7 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +52.7s
8 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m10.2s
9 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m23.3s
10 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m27.4s
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