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Ott Tänak

Driver profile

Career Summary

Info

Nationality:  EST
Date of Birth: 15.10.1987
Age: 31
First Rally: 2009, Portugal
Rally Wins: 6
Website: https://otttanak.com/

Season 2019

Classification: WRC
Car No: 8
Car: Toyota Yaris WRC
Team: Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
Co-driver: Martin Järveoja
Points: 112
Standing: 2
Rally Wins: 3
Retirements: 0
Podiums: 4

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Here’s what makes him special

• Determined, intense and at times blisteringly quick, he lets his driving do the talking.

• Came of age in 2017 as he took his first WRC victory at Rally Italia Sardegna, before another maximum points haul at ADAC Rallye Deutschland.

• Discovered a winning edge in 2018 as he impressively scooped four victories in Toyota's Yaris WRC.


The story so far

Tänak’s career began in his native Estonia and he won the national championship in 2008 and 2009, driving for a team run by fellow countryman and ex-Ford driver Markko Märtin.

He won the European Pirelli Star Driver shootout, earning a PWRC support category programme in the 2010 WRC in which he finished fourth.

In 2011 Tänak was behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta S2000 in SWRC. Victories in Italy, Germany and France sent him to the final round in Spain with a title chance but he had to settle for the runners-up spot.


His performance earned him promotion to the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team for 2012. However, it was a disappointing year and despite a maiden podium at the penultimate round in Sardinia, Tänak was dropped at the end of the season.

He made his comeback in 2014, combining WRC 2 in a Ford Fiesta R5 with three events back in an M-Sport Fiesta RS World Rally Car. Armed with new levels of maturity and focus, he took fifth in Sweden and won WRC 2 in Poland.

Tänak was invited back into the full-time M-Sport fold for 2015, filling the vacancy left by the retiring Mikko Hirvonen.

His season took a scary turn in Mexico when his Fiesta went off the road and was submerged in a lake. Footage of his astonishing escape went viral and made ‘the raising of the Ti- Tänak’ one of the most talked about WRC stories for many years.

He was dropped for a second time at the end of the season, but stayed with Fiesta RS power to drive in 2016 with the newly-formed DMACK World Rally Team.

Helping the tyre firm develop its new WRC range meant Tänak was frequently on the ragged edge, but he had his successes too. He secured second places in Poland and Wales, and Poland could have been even better had it not been for a last-minute puncture that cruelly denied him a maiden win.

For 2017, Tänak returned to M-Sport’s manufacturer squad and proved a revelation as he secured third in the drivers' standings, claiming his first victory in Italy and adding another win on Germany’s asphalt.

A move to Toyota Gazoo Racing proved a masterstroke as Tänak found his winning edge in the Yaris WRC in 2018. Four victories gave him a chance to win the drivers' title but his challenge faded during the last two months of the season and he finished third.

A second season with the Japanese manufacturer awaits in 2019.

• Determined, intense and at times blisteringly quick, he lets his driving do the talking.

• Came of age in 2017 as he took his first WRC victory at Rally Italia Sardegna, before another maximum points haul at ADAC Rallye Deutschland.

• Discovered a winning edge in 2018 as he impressively scooped four victories in Toyota's Yaris WRC.


The story so far

Tänak’s career began in his native Estonia and he won the national championship in 2008 and 2009, driving for a team run by fellow countryman and ex-Ford driver Markko Märtin.

He won the European Pirelli Star Driver shootout, earning a PWRC support category programme in the 2010 WRC in which he finished fourth.

In 2011 Tänak was behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta S2000 in SWRC. Victories in Italy, Germany and France sent him to the final round in Spain with a title chance but he had to settle for the runners-up spot.


His performance earned him promotion to the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team for 2012. However, it was a disappointing year and despite a maiden podium at the penultimate round in Sardinia, Tänak was dropped at the end of the season.

He made his comeback in 2014, combining WRC 2 in a Ford Fiesta R5 with three events back in an M-Sport Fiesta RS World Rally Car. Armed with new levels of maturity and focus, he took fifth in Sweden and won WRC 2 in Poland.

Tänak was invited back into the full-time M-Sport fold for 2015, filling the vacancy left by the retiring Mikko Hirvonen.

His season took a scary turn in Mexico when his Fiesta went off the road and was submerged in a lake. Footage of his astonishing escape went viral and made ‘the raising of the Ti- Tänak’ one of the most talked about WRC stories for many years.

He was dropped for a second time at the end of the season, but stayed with Fiesta RS power to drive in 2016 with the newly-formed DMACK World Rally Team.

Helping the tyre firm develop its new WRC range meant Tänak was frequently on the ragged edge, but he had his successes too. He secured second places in Poland and Wales, and Poland could have been even better had it not been for a last-minute puncture that cruelly denied him a maiden win.

For 2017, Tänak returned to M-Sport’s manufacturer squad and proved a revelation as he secured third in the drivers' standings, claiming his first victory in Italy and adding another win on Germany’s asphalt.

A move to Toyota Gazoo Racing proved a masterstroke as Tänak found his winning edge in the Yaris WRC in 2018. Four victories gave him a chance to win the drivers' title but his challenge faded during the last two months of the season and he finished third.

A second season with the Japanese manufacturer awaits in 2019.

Rally Classification Co-driver Rank Points
Rallye Monte-Carlo WRC Martin Järveoja 4. 15+2
Rally Sweden WRC Martin Järveoja 1. 25+5
Rally Guanajuato México WRC Martin Järveoja 2. 18
Xion Rally Argentina WRC Martin Järveoja 8. 4+1
COPEC Rally Chile WRC Martin Järveoja 1. 25+5
Vodafone Rally de Portugal WRC Martin Järveoja 1. 25+3

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