BREEN’S M-SPORT EXIT OPENS THE DOOR TO TANAK
British team the only option for Estonian if he commits to another WRC season
Craig Breen’s return to Hyundai has paved the way for Ott Tanak to move in the opposite direction and give M-Sport the team leader it craves.
Last month (October 27), Motorsport News reported speculation surfacing on Rally Spain that Breen and Tanak would be trading places for 2023.
With Breen now confirmed as a Hyundai recruit for next season during a flurry of driver line-up announcements last week, M-Sport appears to be without a podium finisher in its full-time ranks. Re-signing Tanak could therefore be the difference between success or failure for the Ford-powered team, meaning a move for the Estonian could be potentially pivotal.
Tanak quit Hyundai one season earlier than expected to “embark on a new challenge” and a return to M-Sport, for whom he first drove in 2011 and scored his maiden World championship win with six years later, ticks several boxes.
Even if nine-time champion Sebastien Loeb undertakes a limited schedule of events with M-Sport again in 2023, Tanak would receive number one status, while the family feel factor the Cumbrian outfit is famous for would also appeal. Unlike Hyundai, M-Sport operates below the big promotional radar, which would also sit comfortably with the publicity-shy Tanak.
However, while Tanak would be right for M-Sport – providing it could find the millions to pay his wages – a team that is quick to concede it doesn’t have the cash to fight tooth and nail with big guns Hyundai and Toyota might not be right for Tanak.
Asked about the likelihood of him committing to a full season in 2023, Tanak said on Rally Japan recently that “it depends how I feel. Whatever I’m going to do next year, it [has to give] me a chance to fight for the championship and you know this probably has been something that I’ve been missing to be able to fight for the championship. We will find out if this opportunity comes or not. Honestly, I can say I have nothing at the moment.”
If Tanak commits to another full season in 2023, M-Sport offers the only vacancy after Hyundai and Toyota filled their line-ups
(see separate story).
For M-Sport, alternatives of the calibre close to Tanak’s are in short supply with Kris Meeke, Andreas Mikkelsen and Hayden Paddon the only recent WRC event winners not known to be in gainful employment.
Meanwhile, although its young trio of Adrien Fourmaux, Gus Greensmith and Pierre-Louis Loubet have shown potential, none have demonstrated the “consistency to lead the team into 2023”, a prerequisite for M-Sport’s Malcolm Wilson (see sidebar).