Toyota’s Tanak back in world title hunt after Finland win
JYVASKYLA: Estonia’s Ott Tanak steered his Toyota to an impressive victory on the dirt-track forest roads at the Rally of Finland yesterday, clinching his second win of the season after leading all weekend. Norway’s Mads Ostberg in a Citroen and home hope Jari-Matti Latvala of Toyota were second and third in this eighth of 13 dates on the WRC calendar. The race was all but secured on Saturday with Tanak taking five of the eight specials. Tanak won a similar style of rally in Argentina in April and climbs to third in the world rankings albeit 46 points adrift of Belgian Thierry Neuville, who slumped to a ninth-place finish here.
“We tried what we could,” said Hyundai’s Neuville. “But we knew coming here it would be rough.” The winner, who celebrated wildly on the roof of his Toyota, had held a comfortable lead overnight of 39 and 44sec over his two closest rivals with yesterday’s racing including just four specials raced over a total of 45.72km. Taking his foot off the gas after watching Esapekka Lappi roll his Toyota yesterday morning, Tanak eventually won by 32.7sec. “It was a perfect weekend for us, first day was tough but after that we just increased our gap,” said Tanak, who thanked his Toyota team for their performance.
“There is full support behind us, I think that’s how it needs to be done - when we all work together,” he said. “In terms of the championship let’s see where we end up.” Tanak’s next chance will come at the Rally of Germany in three weeks time. Five-time world champion Sebastien Ogier ended the rally fifth at 2min 15sec but felt the performance was a step towards the world title as he currently sits second in the standings. “The whole weekend I gave everything. The most important is that we at least step in the right direction in the championship,” said the Frenchman.— AFP