NEUVILLE FEARS LATE TANAK TITLE CHARGE
Wrc leader admit she is looking over his shoulder
World Rally Championship leader Thierry Neuville insists Ott Tanak is part of the fight for this year’s title after the Estonian secured back-to-back series wins in Germany last week.
Toyota star Tanak’s has taken 59 points from a possible 60 in Finland and Germany, halving the gap between himself and Neuville. Prior to Rally Finland, the Estonian was 72 points down on the top-placed Hyundai – that difference sits at 36 after another dominant win from the Yaris WRC driver.
The difference between second-placed Sebastien Ogier and Tanak is even more marked: 45 points before Finland, it’s now down to 13.
“It’s always been a three-way fight,” said Neuville. “The gap between me and Ogier is just 23 points and we know how quickly the situation can change. If we score a zero and our main rival is taking the maximum score then we are already in second place. Tanak has been really strong here, we could not match him again. He is in there fighting for sure.”
Tanak moved to defuse such talk and insisted his only consideration was next month’s trip to Rally Turkey.
He said: “For me, nothing has really changed for the championship. There’s lot of talk about this, but my plan is like I told you last time in Finland. It’s nice to see we are moving in the right direction, but we are still far away [from the championship lead]. My target is still the same, it’s event-by-event for me. The focus is on the next one in Turkey. That’s not going to be easy, nobody’s been there before and nobody knows anything about the rally. We will have a good, long test before the event so we will be well prepared and it’s important to get a good result from there.”
Ogier’s hopes of further narrowing the gap to Neuville were spoiled when he dropped 1m40s changing a puncture in Panzerplatte on Saturday afternoon. A power stage win eased the situation and meant he only dropped a further two points behind Neuville.
“We had to push for the power stage,” he said. “After yesterday, we need as many points as possible. This situation could have been worse, but still it’s not as good as it looked before Panzerplatte. We move on and think about the next rally.”
Tanak’s chances of a WRC hat-trick and further closure on the top of the table will hinge on Toyota’s ability to have rectified the cooling issues the Yaris has suffered on hot rallies so far this season.
Team principal Tommi Makinen said: “It’s true we have had some issue in some rallies before, places like Mexico, but we have worked to fix these. We are motivated to give this our maximum effort and tomorrow [Monday] we are already thinking about Turkey. We have done some preparations for Turkey already, because it’s sure we are going to find some hot conditions on the next event.”
A strong team performance from Toyota – with Esapekka Lappi backing up Tanak with third in Germany – was enough to power the Finnish-based team to within 13 points of the lead in the makes’ race.
“This is really good for us,” said Makinen. “We were looking strong here, with Jari-matti in a good position until an electrical problem this morning. We are sorry for Jari-matti, some time his luck has to change. But Esapekka was there and he has made more points for us.”
Makinen’s opposite number at M-sport Malcolm Wilson was disappointed to be the biggest loser at round nine.
“It’s disappointing, there’s no way around that,” said Wilson. “We needed a good result here to stay ahead of Toyota and get closer to Hyundai. OK, things didn’t finish as badly as they might have when Seb had his puncture and we lost Elfyn on Saturday. Teemu [Suninen] did a fantastic job on his first asphalt rally in one of these cars – his fifth place helped us contain the damage.
“We’re doing everything we can in this championship fight. We simply can’t do any more. We’ll run Suninen in the third car everywhere [on the remaining four rallies] unless we have absolutely no chance [of the championship] and then we might not send him to Australia, but the intention is for him to go. We’re definitely not about the throw the towel in.”
Wilson remained upbeat about Ogier’s hopes of a second successive title in a Ford Fiesta WRC.
The Cumbrian added: “It’s not over for Seb, far from it. He’s not giving up on anything and you can see that from his immediate response to the puncture: he was straight back on the pace. What he did after the problem, the splits he set were just incredible. Some drivers can do that, get back in and get back on it – Seb can, he’s one of the best at it. What we’ve seen after that puncture is the mark of a true champion.”