Wednesday | 04 Feb 2015

Tänak eyes strong Sweden run

Ott Tänak believes the FIA World Rally Championship’s new start order rules could help him emulate last year’s impressive performance at Rally Sweden (12 - 15 February).

Drivers will start in championship order on Friday and Saturday and plenty of snow on the Värmland roads could play into the hands of the Estonian, who finished fifth in 2014 after more than a year away from the WRC.

Tänak finished 18th at Rallye Monte-Carlo last month after losing almost 20 minutes off the road, and the M-Sport driver could benefit from better conditions by starting behind his rivals in Sweden.

“We had a good start position last year on the first day,” said Tänak, who ended the opening leg in fourth. “This time we should have a good start position for two days and we know the car is really quick, there’s no doubt about that.

“We need to have a good test before the rally to get a good feeling, and then do our best there,” said the Ford Fiesta RS pilot, who will test in Sweden tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday.

Tänak was encouraged by his Monte-Carlo pace which saw him running as high as third on his M-Sport comeback.

“We were not pushing. The plan was just to drive through and I had a reasonably good rhythm, but unfortunately we had one moment that caught us out.

“We came for experience, and I think we got some really hard experience, but I’m sure it’s good for our future and we will be a lot stronger next time,” he said.

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