
Martins Sesks delivered an impressive drive to claim the lead at the inaugural Rally Saudi Arabia on Thursday morning while World Rally Championship title contender Kalle Rovanpera suffered a costly puncture.
Returning M-Sport-Ford driver Sesks almost completed a clean sweep of stage wins, which was only denied by a small mistake in stage four. The Latvian, who benefited from a cleaner road position, on the all-new rough gravel stages took a 1.3s lead over Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux heading into midday service with Toyota’s Sami Pajari, third, 1.7s adrift.