Driver's sidekick directed van to Riga (9)
I believe the answer is:
navigator
'driver's sidekick' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'directed van to riga' is the wordplay.
'directed' indicates an anagram.
'van'+'to'+'riga'='vantoriga'
'vantoriga' is an anagram of 'NAVIGATOR'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for navigator that I've seen before include "reliable guide" , "sailor" , "Assistant to driver" , "Pilot" , "One directs the course, of a ship say" .)