Thu 30 Jan 2025

Tänak Embraces the Upsides of Challenging Rallye Monte-Carlo

Hyundai star Ott Tänak says there are plenty of positives to take away from his fifth-place finish at last week’s Rallye Monte-Carlo.

The 2019 WRC champion ran as high as third on the Gap-based season-opener, but slipped down the order after he took what he felt to be the wrong choice of tyres through a final day packed with ever-changing grip levels and weather conditions.

Tänak and his i20 N Rally1 were the class of the field across Saturday’s drier and more consistent running – the Estonian won four of the day’s six stages.

“It was quite an entertaining weekend,” he said. “We didn’t get things right, but there are still lots of positives to take away. The speed on Saturday was good. We worked with the car and felt comfortable once we made some set-up changes which worked better with the tyre.

“We got some good points and we can be a bit happier with the road position going to round two (Rally Sweden). There were some things we couldn’t get right, but obviously the base was there. We will get it sorted and working, but it takes a bit of time. Even on Sunday morning, the matrix said the slick [tyre] would be two minutes slower, but it was a minute faster.”

Sweden
Starts: Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 8:00:00 AM
Spain
Starts: Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 7:00:00 AM
Turkey
Starts: Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 8:30:00 AM