Tänak felt pessimistic heading into
Sunday’s four-stage final leg, having ended the previous day 17.1sec adrift of
Sébastien Ogier. The Estonian even suggested that team orders had come into
play to reduce his speed on the penultimate afternoon.
“The rally was finished yesterday,” he
declared after Sunday’s opener. “We are going for the [Sunday] points.”
A conservative approach by Ogier saw the
Frenchman’s lead whittled down to 6.2 seconds going into the 7.1km Sassari -
Argentiera finale. It was a buffer that appeared safe until
disaster struck, and a tyre on his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 started losing air.
While Ogier did his best to limit the time
loss, his efforts were in vain. Right at the death, Tänak overtook him,
stealing the victory by 0.2sec in what was the joint-closest WRC finish in history.
“Honestly, I was not expecting [this win]
at all,” Tänak admitted. “I was not even looking for it. It was all about the
Super Sunday points [for us], and it was almost like it was a different
event."
“I know how it feels to lose a rally like
this,” the Hyundai star continued, reflecting back to the same event – and the
very same stage – in 2019 when he was denied a guaranteed victory by power
steering failure.
“I would say that Séb was robbed in a very
cruel way. It’s difficult to say much, but from an emotional perspective, it’s
definitely great to get a surprise like this, and also great for the
statistics.”
The FIA World Rally Championship title race
is really starting to heat up, with the leading three drivers blanketed by just
18 points after round six of 13.
Tänak’s triumph elevated him to second in
the standings, equal on scores with Toyota rival Elfyn Evans as his Hyundai
team-mate Thierry Neuville leads the way.
Finland
Italy
Hungary