TANAK TEES UP A BELTER FOR 2023
Motorsport News was the first to tell you, but the news is now confirmed. Ott Tanak is on his way for a homecoming with M-Sport to drive its Ford Puma Rally1 in the World Rally Championship next season, while Craig Breen heads in the opposite direction for a part-campaign with Hyundai. Tanak’s increasing frustration at Hyundai in 2022 was one of the major subplots of the season. The South Korean marque has often flattered to deceive at the highest level of global rallying, with reliability problems and some questionable team management. Tanak wasn’t going to sit back and let that wash over him. He was succinct and forthright, and this led to a very frosty relationship between him and his paymasters.
Now he is returning to the team that gave him his big break in the WRC and with which he effectively went through the growing pains that made him into a title threat. Toyota was the main beneficiary of that flourishing talent when Tanak took the title in 2019 before the Estonian’s switch to Hyundai, presumably lured by the big bucks, has been anything but happy in the last three seasons but it is worth remembering that, despite all of the upset and unrest within the team this season, he still managed to win three rallies and he finished as runner up to Kalle Rovanpera in the race for this year’s title.
M-Sport needs a truly top-line driver on a regular basis. There is the feeling that the Puma Rally1 machine is a highly competitive piece of equipment and the results this season haven’t really shown that.
But for 2023, it will have a success-hungry driver who is out to make a point. This could be a very potent combination and it also means that the top talent in the WRC is spread liberally around the top three teams. That means 2023 could do down as one of the most competitive years in WRC history.
The man who is already scheming a way to topple the opposition once more is Jari-Matti Latvala, the team boss of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT. The Finn kindly took time out of his very busy schedule to tackle the MN readers’ questions this week, and it is a fascinating insight. The interview starts on page 14.
We also run down the MN list of the 20 most iconic moments in the five-decade history of the World Rally Championship in our special feature that begins on page 20. We have hand-picked a selection of our favourites but, as ever, these things are subjective, and we would love to hear your views. Get in touch and let us know if your favourite is missing from the list.