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Ott Tänak has pledged to push M-Sport's 2015-spec Ford Fiesta RS harder than ever on the upcoming 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland (2-5 July).
Poland marks the third competitive outing for the car, which was launched at Vodafone Rally de Portugal, and the Estonian is eager to explore more of its potential.
"I was really safe in Portugal, then I pushed a bit more in Sardinia when I tried to push the base settings a bit. It was enough to give us a couple of moments!" Tänak told wrc.com. "In Poland we will try to do the next step. We need to go step-by-step to get closer to the top guys."
Tänak's push in Sardinia netted him a stage win, and he was on course for a podium finish until a transmission problem dropped him outside the top-ten.
"Even though the final result was a big disappointment, we improved throughout and I think it was one of the most positive rallies for me," he said. "Definitely the potential is good and immediately from Portugal I was much more relaxed in the car and the way it handled. Now I like it a lot more. Of course we have plenty of work to do to make it a VW beater but I think the base we have is good."
After the rough and rocky tracks of Sardinia, Tanak is relishing the chance to see what he can do in Poland, when the action switches to high-speed flowing stages.
"I do enjoy the stages in Poland a lot," he said. "Definitely I want to give it a proper go this time but we have to wait and see what is possible in terms of results. We've seen before that starting position can make things difficult. The roads can be very soft, and maybe that won't be so good for us, but we'll do the best we can."
