COLIN CLARK

“Ott Tanak will dominate the rest of the season”

I

said before Rally Sweden that I thought Toyota would dominate this event. Well I got that completely wrong with three different manufacturers on the podium. But never one to be put off, I’m going to make another domination prediction. I predict that Ott Tanak will dominate the remainder of the season.

And by that I mean that he will win at least another five events and become Estonia’s first world rally champion without the need for a Decider Down Under come Rally Australia .

Such is the potency of the Tanak/toyota partnership that unless the man makes a mistake, or the car breaks, he looks like he can win every time he takes to the start.

Tanak has a self-assured swagger about him these days that speaks volumes for where he’s at. He knows he’s good. Actually, he knows he’s the best. He knows the others fear him and he knows he has the best car. He’s driving with an intelligence these days that hasn’t always been obvious in the past.

The Toyota boys have worked hard to iron out the gremlins that plagued Tanak’s championship challenge last year. Since the introduction of the new engine in Finland last July, the car has been simply sensational.

And the scary thing for the boys in hot pursuit is that both Tanak and the Toyota will only get better as the season goes on.

Now there is one very big caveat that I have to add to my slightly bold prediction and that is road position.

Neuville’s title hopes hit the buffers last year almost the moment that the Hyundai-driving Belgian hit the front of the championship. One podium in the second half of the season was an awful lot to do with his inability to cope with the demands of running first on the road.

How will Tanak cope? Well his title aspirations may well depend upon him getting to grips with front-running on the loose, and that, as we’ve seen, is a notoriously difficult situation to master.

But the new Tanak, the bold, brave, brash, intelligent Tanak has all the tools in the box necessary to get the job done. He just has to work out which tool best fits the job in hand.

Mexico will be the real litmus test for both Tanak and Neuville. Running one and two on the road will be mighty punishing and the likes of Ogier and Meeke will be very much looking to capitalise from their better starting positions.

Ogier has shown in the past that winning from the front in Mexico is possible. It really shouldn’t be, but the greatest champions have shown time and time again the ability to defy logic and seemingly master the impossible.

Well I firmly believe that Tanak is a great champion in the making and he could well prove that to us all by taking a gloriously credentialaffirming victory in Mexico in a few weeks’ time.