Tänak talks up title chances

October 7, 2019 0 Comments

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja have opened up a 28 point lead in the FIA World Rally Championship, after winning Wales Rally GB and scoring maximum bonus points for fastest time on the Power Stage.

With just two rounds of the series remaining, the Toyota crew have 240 points and are within sight of their first world title. But with 60 points still up for grabs, second placed Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (on 212 points) and third placed Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (199 points) can still win the title.

Here Tänak talks about his chances of clinching the title at Rally Spain.

Ott, this great weekend means you can win the championship in Spain. Happy? “Of course I’m happy. It’s been an intense weekend, competition-wise. I made a small mistake in the very first stage and lost nine seconds. It didn’t look too bad, but looking back now, every stage had gaps really small and to make any time back was difficult. It’s always a challenge. In a way, I’m happy. I made no more mistakes and came back slowly, slowly. Yesterday I didn’t win any [forest] stage and not on Friday, only a few we were just consistent.”

That Power Stage looked like a wild ride… “Maybe it was not perfect. It was raining quite heavily at the beginning, the grip was low and I had to get some support from the road side. Maybe it was a bit Sweden-spec, but in the end, it paid the bill and we’re happy.”

How do you feel going to Spain? “Overall, I’m feeling good. We go to Spain and we know it’s maybe a bit tricky on the first day as we’ll be opening the road. It always depends on the weather. Last year, we saw it was easy to get some rain there and this could change the game. On the performance side, I believe we are good and we can take the fight. Of course, we are looking forward.

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja wear Stilo WRC DES Zero 8860 helmets.