Poland podium finisher Ott Tänak aims to carry the fight to the dominant Volkswagen squad again when the FIA World Rally Championship’s summer of speed continues in Finland later this month.
Tänak was the only driver able to match the Polo R’s of Sébastien Ogier, Andreas Mikkelsen and Jari-Matti Latvala on the super-fast roads of 72nd LOTOS Rally Poland. He led for four stages and set six fastest times en route to third.
Now the Estonian has set his sights on a repeat performance when he puts M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta RS into battle against the German squad over the equally quick gravel roads of Neste Oil Rally Finland (30 July - 2 August).
“The speed is similar, there are more jumps and maybe it’s more technical, but I have driven in Finland many times.
“You can see it’s tough to beat Volkswagen. They are really strong and we have to take some risks, but at the moment I’m very confident in the car. We might be able to do at least the same result,” said Tänak.
The 24-year-old’s emotions were clear when he won the second run through Swietajno on Saturday afternoon to regain third from Latvala for the final time in their see-saw battle. “F**k the VWs!” he exclaimed at the stage finish.
“I didn’t mean anything bad to them, but it was good for the sport that somebody is competing with the strongest team. I felt really good that we managed to beat Jari-Matti. OK, I didn’t want it to end with him going off but we had a good fight,” he said.
Tänak will test new suspension parts before Finland, although there may not be time to implement any upgrades for the event.