Tanak downplays Arctic Rally chances after warm-up event win
Ott Tanak says there is "a big job" to be completed before he is in a position to win the World Rally Championship's Arctic Rally Finland, despite dominating this weekend's warm-up event.
Tanak crushed the competition in the Otepaa Winter Rally, going fastest on every stage to win by 33.4 seconds from Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville.
The result was Tanak’s fifth win on home soil with the Korean marque since last summer and arguably the most important as the 2019 World Champion tries to bounce back from his Rally Monte Carlo disappointment.
For the second year running, he retired from the traditional season-opener, and to compound matters received a suspended one-round ban for driving back to service on three wheels.
“Overall, it was a very demanding rally for us,” said Tanak. “All day we had some very snowy conditions and I would say compared to the Lapland test [earlier this month] the conditions were very similar.
"There were some narrow and fast roads and also some bumpy and twisty sections, so for sure we got some very good information.”
Despite preparations for Arctic Rally Finland going as well as he could have hoped, Tanak believes there is still considerable work to do if he hopes to narrow the gap to Toyota.
“We now have these final two weeks to get prepared for the next round and make sure everything is good for the rally because we know we will have some very hard competition from Toyota in Lapland,” he said.
"It will be more than demanding. A big job is still waiting ahead before we arrive at Lapland.”
Despite coming home second to Tanak, Neuville appeared to leave Estonia for home much the happier of the two Hyundai drivers.
“We came here to test a little bit more, to try and find settings,” explained the Belgian. “Throughout all the day we went progressively in the right direction, so there is a better feeling in the car. But it was a tough event – the conditions were changing a lot.
“It was really tricky in parts but yeah, at the end the job is done and I think that it was good to prepare in this way for the next WRC event.
“There was a test plan before the event and everybody respected it. Everybody was able to try all the [new] parts which more or less had limited availability [previously], but now for the rally everybody knows what he [the driver] likes and what is going to be on the car.”
Related video
Previous article
Lappi open to test role to earn 2022 WRC return
Next article
Hyundai awaiting board approval to develop 2022 WRC car
About this article
| Series | WRC |
| Event | Arctic Rally |
| Drivers | Thierry Neuville , Ott Tanak |
| Teams | Hyundai Motorsport |
Acropolis Rally Greece Teaser
Arctic Rally Finland: Wolf Power Stage highlights
Arctic Rally Finland: Highlights Stage 9
Arctic Rally Finland: Highlights Stages 6-8
Why WRC's hybrid path could leave it at a crossroads
With all three major manufacturers committing to the World Rally Championship’s hybrid era from 2022, the future of the series is assured for now, but it could lead to trickier twists and turns further down the road
How Tanak froze out the competition at the Arctic Rally
Ott Tanak made up for a disastrous Monte Carlo Rally by leading all the way on the snow-kissed stages of the Arctic Rally Finland and in the process hit back at an event Toyota had been expected to dominate…
What to look out for in the 2021 WRC
As the 2021 World Rally Championship prepares to launch amid tight COVID-19 restrictions in Monte Carlo, here are the eight things unrelated to the pandemic that you should keep an eye on this year
Evans on the talking points of WRC 2021
He came close to the title last year, and now Toyota's Elfyn Evans gives his verdict on what to expect from 2021 as the World Rally Championship prepares to reconvene for the Monte Carlo season opener.
Why Britain's continued WRC absence is a wake-up call
With Rally GB dropping off the World Rally Championship calendar for the second year in a row, one of Britain's best-attended sporting events faces an uncertain future. It's an unfortunate situation that points to troubling times ahead
The Top 10 WRC drivers of 2020
A drastically-shortened 2020 season gave the World Rally Championship protagonists precious little stage mileage to strut their stuff, but as ever the cream rose to the top across the seven events. We rank the year's best performers
The twists and turns of a turbulent 2020 WRC season
The 2020 World Rally Championship bestrode all 12 months of the Gregorian calendar, and in terms of the competition it was a cracker. Moreover, it was an inspiration in dark days for the world and our industry.
The early setbacks that shaped the WRC's greatest driver Loeb
A series of close calls in his formative years threatened to leave rallying's top echelon tantalisingly out of reach for the man who would go on to claim nine WRC titles. In an exclusive interview, Sebastien Loeb recalls the key steps on his road to dominance.
