Sesks & Francis: 2024 WRC Plans Confirmed

Renārs Francis and Mārtiņš Sesks | Photo: Uldis Siliņš

Latvian rally pilot Mārtiņš Sesks and driver Renārs Francis will take part in at least six rounds of the M-Sport Ford team this year in the World Rally Championship (WRC) season.

Cesk is scheduled to compete in the WRC stages in Sweden (February 12-15), Portugal (May 7-10), Greece (June 25-28), Estonia (July 16-19), Finland (July 30-August 2), Italy (October 1-4) and possibly Saudi Arabia. (November 11-14). The WRC season starts next week with a round in Monte Carlo.

Seskas is also scheduled to participate in separate stages of the European Rally Championship (ERC) and the Latvian Championship. It is planned that Cesk will participate in the Swedish and Portuguese stages of the ERC. Cesk said at the press conference on Friday that participation in two stages of the ERC is currently confirmed, however, there will probably be a third stage as well.

Sesks also said that the athletes will start the WRC season with a stage in Sweden, where they have previously accumulated experience, so there will be an opportunity to correct the mistakes made earlier. He told the LETA agency that the program of this season is similar to that of 2025. “Last year’s season, these stages were new, a large part of them were also unknown, so this year could be called the ‘year of correcting mistakes’,” said Cesk.

Asked if the athletes expect better results in the championships this year, Cesk said that the team will use the lessons learned this season, including things that succeeded and failed, so “theoretically” this experience could improve speed and progress.

At the same time, he explained that the ERC had planned a stage in Hungary this year, but it was canceled a few weeks ago due to organizational circumstances, so the new stage, which has not yet been announced, is awaited. He also mentioned that athletes will participate in the Latvian rally championship in the Alūksne stage from January 23 to 24, and it is also planned to participate in the “Kurzeme” rally.

The “M-Sport Ford” team has chosen two Irish drivers for this season’s basic team – Josh McLane, who completed the full 2025 season, and John Armstrong, who previously competed in the Junior WRC and European Championship.

Also in the previous season, the Latvian WRC crew started according to a similar program. The crew of Seska and co-driver Renard Franz was by far the fastest in the last stage of the season – the Saudi Arabian Rally – but due to technical problems and flat tires, they did not fight for the victory, failing to finish in the end.

The Latvian crew finished the race in sixth place in the Swedish rally, took 15th place in the Portuguese and Greek rallies, retired from the Sardinian rally after an accident, but finished in eighth place in the Estonian rally and the Finnish rally.

WRC Seska’s crew made their debut in 2024, when they participated in three stages. In the WRC stage in Latvia, the hosts are seventh, losing their place on the podium only in the last stage.