Tänak heads Suninen in Estonia test event

Driving M-Sport’s Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid, the 35-year-old won all nine stages and cantered to a 38-second victory from Teemu Suninen’s Hyundai i20 N Rally1.

Suninen was making his first factory outing with the Korean manufacturer’s top-line car since he deputised for Tänak at the 2021 FORUM8 ACI Rally Monza. Like Tänak, Suninen was using the 68-kilometre Estonian event as a warm-up for round eight of this year’s WRC.

The event offered the full range of weather conditions with warm and sunny giving way to heavy rain and wet conditions on the fast gravel roads.

Neither car suffered any significant issues through the rally nor the test day prior to the start.

For Finn Suninen, it was useful to add to his limited knowledge of Rally1 running ahead of his first WRC outing in the current Hyundai – he joins Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi in the factory team in Estonia and Finland.

“We learned a lot,” he said. “That was really good preparation for the rally. I got a good feeling and good preparation for the car. For [Rally] Estonia, it will be tough to match the pace of the top guys, but to be close would be enough.”

Top image: Janne Veetousme