2023 WRC News & Rumours

[Jarek Z]

Martins Sesks in WRC of Latvia 2024 in a Rally 1 car confirmed.

Confirmed? Already 1 year before the rally?

[Negaiss]

Confirmed? Already 1 year before the rally?

This post was meant to be kind of funny. Of course it is not confirmed as rally is still 1,5 years away, BUT at the moment Sesks and his suporters in Latvian media are saying, that they will do whatever they can to put Martins Sesks in Rally 1 car. And there are some wealthy people and companies which would support Sesks chance to show his pace in WRC on his home ground. I would say - it is highly likely.

[Jarek Z]

Well, good luck to him! He has the talent and the right attitude. We need such people in this sport!

BTW, is Ralfs Sirmacis still around?

[EstWRC]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/berte...-m-sport-cars/

thats interesting. Toyota outing was too costly or Malcom being clever now getting him back with the info of the Toyota car?

[Kenneth]

Nah, I think there is much simpler reason. Almost every driver says that Puma is intuitive and very easy to drive. Also I can imagine there is much better team environment for driver like Bertelli in M-Sport.

[AnttiL]

Nah, I think there is much simpler reason. Almost every driver says that Puma is intuitive and very easy to drive. Also I can imagine there is much better team environment for driver like Bertelli in M-Sport.

https://www.wrc.com/en/news/2023/wrc...ith-new-yaris/

In here he said Yaris was an easy car to drive, or at least easier than he thought. But who knows.

[mknight]

My theory is that someone at Toyota (company) leadership reminded Latvala, Fowler and co what their job is:
Winning, or at least fighting for wins. Not a single Toyota on podium in Sweden while they are giving payrides should sound a few alarms.

In case some people need idiotproof explanation: I am not saying they should be giving the 4th car to someone else. I am saying they should be focusing resources on making those cars that are entered perform. In this case they could have used team resources to run say Evans in a local rally beforehand instead of testing with Bertelli. (I do not approve running on local rallies, but clearly it is a working approach atm).

[Negaiss]

Well, good luck to him! He has the talent and the right attitude. We need such people in this sport!

BTW, is Ralfs Sirmacis still around?

No.

[SubaruNorway]

This post was meant to be kind of funny. Of course it is not confirmed as rally is still 1,5 years away, BUT at the moment Sesks and his suporters in Latvian media are saying, that they will do whatever they can to put Martins Sesks in Rally 1 car. And there are some wealthy people and companies which would support Sesks chance to show his pace in WRC on his home ground. I would say - it is highly likely.

I see Sesks has switched to a Rally2 from the Rally2 - Kit, i didn't realize he was in that before, didn't look so good being beaten on some stages and one event by a Norwegian 15 year old i guess

[AnttiL]

My theory is that someone at Toyota (company) leadership reminded Latvala, Fowler and co what their job is:
Winning, or at least fighting for wins. Not a single Toyota on podium in Sweden while they are giving payrides should sound a few alarms.

In case some people need idiotproof explanation: I am not saying they should be giving the 4th car to someone else. I am saying they should be focusing resources on making those cars that are entered perform. In this case they could have used team resources to run say Evans in a local rally beforehand instead of testing with Bertelli. (I do not approve running on local rallies, but clearly it is a working approach atm).

I don't think they "wasted resources" for Bertelli. Their test days are so limited that getting extra drivers and test days is just bonus for getting more data from the car. Maybe they used the money Bertelli brought in to run Katsuta in Kuopio? Rumors say TGR's budget isn't as endless as it used to be...

Meanwhile, Evans is so lost with the car that I don't think one extra local rally would have helped him.