Reigning World Rally Champion Ott Tänak says Rally Turkey later this month will give a better indication of how Hyundai and its World Rally Championship rivals compare than last weekend’s Rally Estonia.
Tänak won his home event by 22.2 seconds from team-mate Craig Breen, as Hyundai secured a comfortable 1-2 on the first rally since the WRC’s coronavirus-enforced break.
But he said the specific nature of Rally Estonia – which is held on fast gravel roads similar to Rally Finland, which was canceled for 2020 – meant it was not a given Hyundai’s form would carry over to Turkey.
Asked about the title fight, Tänak – whose win elevates him to third in the championship, 13 points behind Toyota’s standings leader Sébastien Ogier – told DirtFish: “It’s always been game on, only let’s say the low point was Monte, but after this we’ve been consistent and I mean it’s still very, very close, it’s been a different winner for every event so I’m sure it will be interesting.
“Also in Turkey we will see where we are actually as Estonia, Finland the roads are very specific and OK we’ve been fast there but previous years Hyundai has been fast in Turkey so we need to go and see.”
Tänak’s victory was his first in the WRC for Hyundai, having joined from Toyota at the start of the year.
He said the win was a “very important” one in the context of his career, and that it reflected the efforts the team had gone to during a near-six-month break from WRC competition.
“Very happy to get my first win for Hyundai,” he added.
“After a long break, I guess we can see that we’ve done some steps in the right direction and that was the most important to see that the people have been working hard and you also get the results in the end.
“[A] 1-2 for the team, great feeling for myself. That’s the first WRC event in Estonia and first win for the team so all this package together works pretty well.”
