Ott Tänak celebrated his first win with Hyundai Motorsport on Saturday in Estonia’s one-day Viru Rally.
The reigning World Rally Champion delighted his home fans by winning six from seven stages in Hyundai’s test i20 Coupe WRC at the Rakvere-based event in the north of the country.
Tänak, who has finished second on the last two WRC rounds in Sweden and México, told DirtFish it was good to break his duck with his new employer.
“It was a great feeling to be out competing again, and it’s nice to win a rally with Hyundai,” said Tänak.
“I have to say a big thanks to the team for bringing the car to this event. It was quite a small event and it’s not always easy to make this sort of thing happen for a big team, so thank you to all the guys for that.”
Tänak’s first competitive mileage aboard an i20 since March were a welcome relief after the coronavirus-enforced lockdown of recent months.
“It was really important for me to get back out there and start driving again,” the DirtFish-backed driver added. “I have been doing some testing a little bit recently, so I have done some driving – but it was good to get the feeling of the butterflies in your stomach while driving out to the first stage again. It’s been a long time!”
Fellow Estonian Georg Gross finished second to Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja. The Ford Fiesta WRC driver was 1m43s adrift of the world champions after 55 miles of competition.
