The WRC Promoter is keen to improve the championship’s ability to tell stories to its viewers during events and has appointed a special consultant who will begin work on the team radio concept from next month’s Rally Portugal.

Live team radio is utilised by several motorsport categories with F1 perhaps leading the way with the aspect of the broadcast hugely popular among its audience. In the WRC, every stage is currently broadcast live through Rally.TV, but viewers only hear from the crews at stage ends, and when action or incidents occur during a stage, the audience is often left in dark as to what has happened.  

“I think from our point of view we need to take a bit more of a direct role in storytelling and we need to integrate ourselves a bit better,” WRC event director Simon Larkin told media including Motorsport.com.

“I think we need to find different opportunities to bring the characters out of the drivers rather than going to them 20 seconds after they have finished a stage.

“We have a new concept for next year that we’re working on with the teams and the manufacturers for more data out of the cars, more live interaction between the crews and their teams. At the moment, these are very expensive rally cars and my rental car has better connectivity than these very expensive rally cars. It is all there on the cars and I think there is a better technological story we can tell about these cars and what goes into them.

“We have spent many years thinking teamwork in the WRC is the work between the driver and the co-driver and I think that is a little bit disconnected from the reality that there are 70 or 80 people here that are responsible for giving that driver and co-driver a car that they are able to perform in. 

“We can bring out more characters; even the relationship between the driver and their engineer is something that maybe we’re missing that other sports are better at.”

Andreas Mikkelsen, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

One obstacle in broadcasting live communication from the crews is that information teams want to keep under wraps becomes widely known to the public and their rivals.

While the concept is in its infancy, the WRC Promoter is hoping that investing in providing access to more live data from the cars — that may not be seen on the broadcast — will help secure an agreement with teams to allow live team radio in the future.

“We think the quid pro quo that we can offer to the teams is providing them with more live data, like oil pressure, water pressure and the tyre pressure monitoring system,” Larkin added.

“There are a lot of things that sometimes go wrong with these cars that maybe could have been avoided that could keep them in the rally even, if they have the ability to take different actions during a stage, during a road section, all these sorts of things. I think if we can be more involved, we can have more interesting questions at stage ends because we are ahead of it.

“Again, with the data, just because we might provide it to the teams doesn’t mean we are going to exploit some of this data on TV. It is a quid pro quo.”

Peter Thul, WRC Promoter’s Senior Director of Sport, added: “The teams are quite open to this, and it was a joint approach. There will be a point where there will be a red line, but we have to go for it. We may not get everything but at least more than we have now.”

The deal will see Sesks and co-driver Francis Renars compete in back-to-back events in Poland (27-30 June) and their home round in Latvia (18-21 July).

As part of the arrangement, the duo are set to drive a non-hybrid powered Ford Puma Rally1 car, marking its first appearance at WRC level in Poland, to aid their transition to the full hybrid version in Latvia.

The FIA passed regulations this year which allows teams to field Rally1 cars without hybrid units with ballast added to compensate for the weight of the plug-in hybrid system.

Sesks graduation to the top tier of world rally has been made possible thanks to a collaboration between the driver, M-Sport and the WRC Promoter.

The 24-year-old is a regular competing in the European Rally Championship driving Rally2 machinery. Last season, Sesks scored wins in Poland and Latvia on his way to finishing runner-up to champion Hayden Paddon. In 2022, Sesks won every stage on his way to victory at the Latvia ERC round.

This year he has swapped a Skoda Fabia for a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 for the 2024 ERC campaign.

“I am sincerely grateful, as it is a dream come true to join forces with the M-Sport World Rally Team and the WRC Promoter for this remarkable opportunity to advance from Rally2 to Rally1 level,” said Sesks.

Sesks signs deal

Photo by: Raivo Perševics / Robyworks

“I must admit, it takes saying it twice to fully believe that we will soon be competing alongside the world’s most elite drivers with Rally1 machinery.

“The journey to this point has been a massive effort of many people, particularly my family, whose rallying legacy dates back to my grandfather’s inaugural event in Liepaja in 1965. Now, 59 years later, I have the opportunity to participate in the same rally but as a WRC event.

“While adapting to Rally1 machinery will undoubtedly demand our unwavering focus and commitment, we are fully prepared to give it our all. Being entrusted with piloting the first non-hybrid appearance of the Puma Rally1 makes it more exciting for us to see what the future brings.”

WRC Promoter’s Senior Director of Sport, Peter Thul added: “We identified the need to put more resources into supporting the next generation of potential WRC world champions and assisting them in making the challenging step from the support categories to our sport’s highest echelon. 

“Martins’ performances in the past two seasons of the ERC have deemed him a worthy recipient of this support. He has demonstrated a winning edge in Latvia and Poland and we believe that with time, he will become a regular face in the WRC.”

M-Sport team principal Richard Millener believes Sesks is the “perfect candidate” to debut the new non-hybrid version of the Puma.

“I’m very pleased to be working on this project with Martins and the WRC Promoter, making use of the new regulations for 2024 allowing us to run the Rally1 cars without the hybrid unit,” said Millener. “Not to mention this being a more cost-effective solution for customer drivers, it allows drivers like Martins to make the step up to Rally1 more comfortably so that we can widen the Rally1 field.

“Martins has an impressive resume and is a perfect candidate for debuting this new non-hybrid strategy. It was a good opportunity to give him the seat time in Poland before competing with full hybrid on his home event. It will be fantastic to see Martins able to drive the best rally cars in existence in front of his home fans.”