This wasn’t what he was hoping for. Two rounds into his Hyundai Motorsport return and Ott Tänak’s pursuit of a second world title isn’t exactly flying.
The Estonian sits fifth in the championship table after two visits to two snowbanks have spoiled the start of his 2024 season. Predictably, Tänak’s appraisal of his year-to-date is as frank as it is honest.
He said: “From my side, definitely too many mistakes to start the season but we know we can be a lot better.”
The upside for the 2019 world champion is the fastest times in both Monte Carlo and Sweden – and there were points. But he knows next month’s Safari Rally needs to deliver a cleaner run with larger reward.
Tänak was unfortunate to find one of the few full ice corners on the season-opening Monte Carlo (snow not pictured here...)
“It’s frustrating,” he told DirtFish. “We screwed it very quickly on Friday. But we’re learning and we scored points which is better than nothing. We need a consistent rally [in Kenya] now.”
Tänak added that it was hard to judge his level of compatibility with the i20 N Rally1 after two such different rallies.
He said: “These are unique events, so it’s difficult to know – it doesn’t say anything about the general performance. [In Sweden] We felt better in the car on Friday when the roads were a bit more slippery, but when the grip improved we just weren’t comfortable.”
