Martins Sesks is locked in a podium position in front of his home crowd. Rally expert Henri Haapamäki marvels at the young man’s maturity.
21:35•Updated 23:04
Listen to how the expert Henri Haapamäki package the topics of the rally day in Latvia from the player below or from Areena via this link. You can find all the events of the rally in the follow-up article behind this link.
Saturday of the Latvian World Rally Championship offered quite a bit of drama. Estonian Ott Tänak during the day drove towards the advertising fence and the hay bale. Kalle Rovanperä again moved to a new century in the number of special exam papers.
Rovanperä leads the rally by more than 40 seconds, the multi-champion to Sebastien Ogier seen before Sunday and took the mortgage to 18 MM points. Although everything has already been said about Rovanperä’s dominance, Urheilu’s expert emphasizes Henri Haapamäki the value of Finnish performance. In a high-speed gravel rally like Latvia, you shouldn’t be able to make such differences.
– Everyone can drive straight hard. It’s bad to make big differences there, but they just happen in Rovanperä’s hands. Handling the car’s mass at high speed is something that Rovanperä has always possessed. He also knows how to make the best use of the aerodynamics of modern cars, Haapamäki emphasizes.
However, the third one deserves even greater praise Martin Sesks. The promise, driving the second World Rally of his career with rally1 equipment, is locked in a podium place. The gap to Tänak is 20 seconds before the final day.
The last time it was Rovanperä who was able to get on the podium in the second race of his career in the main class. Sesks has disproved the belief that you can succeed at the first level only after you have gained experience.
– This gives new energy For Sami Pajar and for other hopes that those cars can be driven hard right from the start. Sesks knows the roads, of course, but even if he knows them in his dreams, not everyone can drive at that speed, Haapamäki points out.
On Saturday, Sesksi’s starting position advantage evened out, but the home crowd’s favorite still kept a cool head at the top pace, even though he had no business riding Rovanperä.
– Dazzling and mature execution. He has been able to keep a cool head in front of the home crowd and get close to the limit, crossing which the rally also ends in an instant. Sesks is preparing a sensational trick, Haapamäki emphasizes.
However, the most talked about situation of the day was Tänak’s hit with an inflatable billboard, which got dangerously stuck on top of the Estonian’s car. The situation could have been prevented if the special exam had been stopped immediately. The security arrangements of the organizers failed.
– Tänakin’s sarcastic comments that he directed at the organizers were spot on. Tänak was thought in vain towards the obstacle, although he surely saw it. A dangerous situation that could have been avoided by stopping the clip in time, Haapamäki explains.