Sesks does not deny he was in talks with Hyundai for the 2026 WRC season

Martins Sesks reveals that he was in negotiations with Hyundai Motorsport for the 2026 WRC season and does not exclude the possibility of his participating in World Rally Championshio this year.

Sesks participated in seven rounds of WRC a year ago where he set an impressive pace with the Ford Puma Rally1 at Rally Saudi Arabia as he won some stages and was fighting for the front places. After Ott Tanak's departure from Hyundai Motorsport, the Korean brand was looking for its options ahead of the new WRC season. Sesks was among the possible candidates for the third i20N Rally1, but Hyundai preferred the experience to the youngster Sesks. However, it is very likely to see Sesks competing in some rallies this year with M-Sport Ford, but we know that he will not be in Monte Carlo next week. 

"In an ideal world and according to our plan, we wanted to start in Monte Carlo", Sesks said. 

"Of course, anyone would like to start in every rally and contest a full WRC season, but it turned out that the middle of the season was not particularly strong for us, while the Saudi Arabia round, where we performed well, came quite late. 

"As a result, discussions only began after that event, and that is a difficult moment to still manage to change anything in the programme.

"Unfortunately, we are not yet on the Monte Carlo start list, but after that there are still 13 other rounds. 

"We are ready and working very actively, planning for the future, so I would advise waiting impatiently for the next entry lists.

"I won’t deny that we had fairly serious talks with Hyundai, but as you can see, Hayden Paddon is currently on the list. 

"I am not particularly upset about not starting in Monte Carlo, because it would have been our first Monte Carlo Rally with this car, and it would have been quite a challenging adventure.

"They chose experience this year. 

"There is a logical explanation for that – this is the final year with these Rally1 regulations. 

"All the previous drivers have already competed with these cars, they have experience, the team knows how to work with them and what to expect. 

"Considering the 2025 results, when Toyota was far superior to Hyundai, winning 12 out of 14 rounds, Hyundai has a very strong appetite to strike back this year".

Source: RallyJournal.com

Photo Credits: M-Sport