Martins Sesks tops Juniors on Saturday: Rally Portugal Junior WRC

Porto (Portugal), 22 May 2021: Martins Sesks leads the FIA Junior WRC field heading into the final day of Rally de Portugal which has seen five different stage winners and three different leaders.
 
Saturday opened with stage nine and a new stage winner by way of Lauri Joona as Martin Koci closed within 11 seconds of Sami Pajari in the fight for the lead.
 
The following stage saw Sesks claim his first Wolf Stage Win Point of the rally to make it five different Wolf Stage winners on Rally de Portugal so far. On the very same stage, Sesks moved into the lead as Pajari was hampered by a loss of power steering, losing over three minutes, but he was able to finish the stage and return to service.
 
The first pass of the arduous Amarante stage followed, seeing Jon Armstrong add another point to his championship tally by going fastest on the stage, just 1.7 seconds ahead of Sesks.
 
The second loop of Rally de Portugal proved to be Junior WRC’s most treacherous yet, with the rough stages now filled with deep rock-laden ruts. Koci would be the first to fall victim of the vicious conditions, retiring for the day with a broken driveshaft, promoting Armstrong to third.
 
Stage 13 saw another Wolf Stage Win Point for Joona as Junior WRC headed for its second pass of the 37.92-kilometre Amarante stage. 
 
The longest stage of the rally was a real test of endurance, following in the rock littered tracks of the wider more powerful cars ahead. Sesks claimed the Wolf Stage Win Point as Joona suffered a driveshaft failure. Armstrong also stopped on the same stage, and when the car was recovered to service it emerged the Northern Irishman had suffered terminal engine damage and would not be able to restart on Sunday. 
 
The drama saw Robert Virves promoted to third position and, following a clean run of stages on Sunday, is set for his second FIA Junior WRC podium while Koci will restart the rally on Sunday in fourth.
 
Sesks would round out the day on the Porto Super Special Stage with another Wolf Stage Point to give him a total of three stage win points so far on Rally de Portugal.
 
Maciej Woda, FIA Junior WRC Championship Manager: “Today has been a very difficult and testing day for the FIA Junior WRC crews on what has been one of toughest loop of stages I have seen. We have had five different stage winners so far on this rally which shows the level this year’s crews are pushing at and every driver has had to fight numerous battles to hold their positions. It’s a huge shame to see the issues out on the stages today, but rallying is a hard and demanding sport and as we have seen at the sharp end of the WRC, these stages are testing for all cars. I must commend the crews today, they have all showed admirable determination and maturity with the situations they have all faced. Lauri Joona was able to demonstrate his speed by grabbing two stage wins and William Creighton has been right up there. Robert Virves found some bad luck on Friday with two punctures but is now looking at a podium position if he holds firm on Sunday.”
 
Martins Sesks, FIA Junior WRC Leader: “It didn’t look realistic to be leading today and I thought it would be really hard. I suppose it couldn’t have been done in a clean fight if all the cars were going so it was just about surviving and being tactical with the pace. The first loop was quite good, I was surprised that the roads were in such good condition but the road on the second pass was so bad with rocks the size of heads.”