TANAK PRAISES TOYOTA FINLAND PREP
Homeland win makes Yaris star optimistic
Ott Tanak delivered a major psychological blow to his World Rally Championship rivals with an utterly dominant victory at last weekend’s Rally Estonia – the now traditional loosener for Rally Finland next month.
Tanak’s Toyota Yaris WRC was never headed in the Otepaa-based event, where the Estonian erased the memory of the heart-breaking steering problem which cost him victory on the final stage of the last world championship round in Sardinia.
Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja won 13 of the 15 stages run at home, eventually taking victory on the
93-mile event by more than a minute from Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen.
As if Tanak’s sheer pace was not enough, the WRC series leader elected to run in the most difficult conditions at the front of the field – looking to dial himself and the Yaris in to the kind of loose surface he is likely to face in Jyvaskyla – and still demolished everybody even when he had the least grip.
“We have learned a lot for Finland from this rally,” said the winner. “There’s lots going on ahead of that event, and I know it will be tough to run at the front on the first day – that’s why I took this position on here [in Estonia].
“The pace has been good and it’s been a challenge – especially when the weather was changing a lot – but it’s a very good test for Finland.”
While getting himself ready to defend his Rally Finland win from last year, Tanak admitted he was delighted with the way the biggest motorsport event in his homeland had gone.
“It’s been a really good event,” he said. “Me? I just come here as a competitor and drive the stages, but Urmo [Aava, rally director] and his company, they really put the work in. The number of spectators here – OK, in the fast stages you don’t have so much time to see them all – but you know that when you have so many on the road sections, you are doing something right.
“It’s great to have the manufacturers coming here to support this event and I think we showed, once again, that
Estonia really is a rally nation.”
Second-placed Mikkelsen, like his fellow WRC competitors, changed the specification of his i20 Coupe WRC across the two days and 15 stages.
“We have been working mainly on the dampers,” said the Norwegian. “I have to say, we have been getting some good answers. It’s been good to have a range of conditions from the weather, it’s given use some useful information for Finland. This is a cool event.”
Citroen driver Esapekka Lappi took the final podium step and agreed with Mikkelsen, adding that he could see no reason why Estonia should not join his home nation Finland on the WRC calendar.
“There’s so much interest from the fans here,” he said. “We have seen so many people out on the stages and the organisers of the event have done a really good job. I don’t think there is a reason why it shouldn’t [be in the WRC].”
Estonia debutant Elfyn Evans was fourth in M-sport’s Ford Fiesta WRC. The Welshman was one of only two drivers – the other being Mikkelsen – to manage a fastest time in Estonia other than Tanak.
Evans’s hopes of challenging his allconquering former team-mate were dashed when his Fiesta suffered a throttle problem after a heavy landing on the second stage. Despite dropping 48 seconds to the eventual winner in SS2, Evans was happy with his weekend.
“It’s been good,” he said. “Ott’s been going at a great pace, but we’ve not been quite so committed on some of the really big jumps out there. In some places we could definitely have gone harder, but it’s been really useful to get out and get fired up with a fast rally before Finland.”