Dealer
Tänak: “anything is possible” for 2020
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Ott Tänak had some interesting things to say at the pre-Rally Turkey press conference – not least that he hopes to sign a contract for 2020 by Monday. But the FIA World Rally Championship leader wasn’t saying with what team he hopes to put pen to paper.
Co-driven by Martin Järveoja, Tänak’s points advantage is large enough that he will still be leading the WRC regardless of what happens on the very rough gravel stages around the host town of Marmaris this weekend. And on current form, the Toyota Yaris WRC driver is favourite to win this first world title this year.
But will the talented Estonian be a TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team driver next season? This is what he said at today’s press conference.
Ott, you head into the 11th round of the FIA WRC championship with a healthy lead of 33 points from you nearest rival Thierry Neuville. You don’t ‘need’ to win here this weekend, what is the objective for you? “I guess we need to be smart and see how it starts to go. Obviously there are many things that may be difficult to control by ourselves. We need to do all the things we can from our side.”
We see some changes to the Toyota – for example the rear spoiler - and there has been some damper work. Do you feel the team have made a stride forward from the performance level last year? “You know more than I do. Let’s see. Generally, the event will be the same. Last year we were struggling with the pace. I was pushing to my maximum and I am sure I was taking risks. It worked out in our favour. Hopefully we can stay in the fight. The team has been working really hard. We were testing in Greece and we tried to find some rough conditions. It is difficult to find any place like this in Europe. The stages are a lot similar to last year. Some sections, actually, are a bit smoother than they used to be. I guess the second loop will be very demanding.”
You have yet to sign a contract for next season. What is the latest situation? “I really hope it happens before Monday. I will say that I am talking to more than one team and less than five. Anything is possible. There are some interesting things on the table. It looks interesting for the moment, let’s say.”
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja wear Stilo WRC DES Zero 8860 helmets.
