Sesks had completed leg one with a lead of 10.5sec over Roope Korhonen, his team-mate at Team MRF Tyres. But when a damper issue struck the Latvian’s Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 and left him trailing his Finnish rival by 8.2sec following the morning loop of stages, his chances of victory were seemingly on the slide.

Korhonen then edged further ahead after he beat Sesks by 2.4sec on SS14 for a lead of 10.6sec with three stages remaining. However, there was late heartache for Korhonen when his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 dropped onto two-wheel-drive mode and Sesks raced clear to win alongside co-driver Renārs Francis.

“We worked a lot towards this,” said Sesks. “Of course, it wasn’t easy for us and Roope today, we both had some technical issues. At the end we were a bit more lucky but the pace we were driving today and yesterday, they made us push really hard. Yesterday you were giving it all out at the beginning, today was more about seeing what we can do and what we cannot. In the end we played the safe game, and it paid off.”

Korhonen said: “Our rear diff broke and the car was only two-wheel drive, so quite a shame. Of course it’s frustrating because we did a good job and we lead the rally but it’s part of the game and that’s it. Everything was going really well, the feeling in the car was super-nice and the car set-up felt good, tyres and everything. I didn’t need to push so much because it feels good.”

Michelin-equipped Pablo Sarrazin, who battled a steering issue throughout the morning loop aboard his Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale, snatched second from the slowing Korhonen on the Power Stage, which included the legendary Pedra Sentada or Fafe jump.

Jan Solans settled for fourth as Simone Tempestni finished fifth ahead of Arthur Pelamourges. Points scored by Sarrazin and Pelamourgues helped Team France win the second National Match Rally ahead of Team Portugal.

Armindo Araújo was the top Portuguese finisher in seventh followed by 2025 ERC champion Miko Marczyk, who just did enough to clinch the runner-up spot in the final standings ahead of Andrea Mabellini, who retired on leg one with a mechanical issue.

Pirelli-shod Pedro Almeida overcame gearbox issues to finish ninth ahead of Hankook-supplied Léo Rossel, who was delayed changing a wheel on leg one. Jakub Matulka started the Power Stage in 10th but lost out to Rossel on the deciding 11.20 kilometres of the rally.

Adam Grahn battled back from a spin, intercom issues and tyre damage to secure a strong 12th ahead of ERC1 rookie Nicolas Otto, Pierre Ragues and Gábor Német.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT NG development driver Rio Ogata won FIA ERC3 on his debut, Karl Peder Nordstrand landed a maiden victory in the Hankook-supplied FIA Junior ERC category, while Timo Schulz secured an FIA ERC4/FIA ERC Junior title double. The ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team driver’s prize for his Junior ERC success is a season competing in the FIA Junior WRC in 2027.

Several leading contenders hit trouble during the event. They included Kris Meeke, who crashed out on SS4, Patrick Enok, who stopped with suspension damage on the same stage, and Sarah Rumeau, who was in a strong ninth place on her ERC debut until she rolled into retirement on SS7, where Tymek Abramowski ended up on his roof and Andrea Mabellini also stopped.

Ville Vatanen was nearing the finish of SS9 when a heavy landing triggered an alarm onboard his Ford Fiesta Rally2 and forced the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team driver to pull over. On his prize drive for winning the ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy, the Pirelli-equipped Finn was in 11th place at the time after a highly encouraging display. He restarted on leg two and completed the top 20.

Nikolay Gryazin also restarted on Sunday after gearbox failure forced him to stop on SS9. He recovered to 17th place.

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