Andreas Mikkelsen is in Latvia on standby for Ott Tänak in case the 2019 World Rally champion is ruled out of competing by the FIA, but Hyundai is confident that won’t be the case.
Tänak suffered a huge accident at Rally Estonia 12 days ago – an event he was using as additional seat time ahead of the eighth round of the World Rally Championship, Rally Latvia.
The crash cut Tänak’s mileage short and wrecked an i20 N Rally1 test chassis, but in a statement on the day of the accident, Tänak said: “Both myself and Martin [Järveoja, co-driver] are feeling well and we’re OK.”
Due to the nature of the shunt, Tänak will undergo a medical check at the request of the FIA – but Hyundai does not anticipate there to be any problems.
Mikkelsen, who competed last time out at Rally Poland, has however completed the recce of Rally Latvia just in case he is required to step in.
Mikkelsen finished sixth on Rally Poland after clipping a bank
“Having Andreas here doing the recce is really just a precaution,” Hyundai said in a statement to DirtFish.
“Ott will undertake a medical check at the request of the FIA (due to the high speed nature of the accident in Estonia) after the recce but we do not anticipate any barriers to his participation in Latvia so we really want to stress that this is a ‘just in case’ situation.”
Tänak himself told DirtFish during Wednesday morning’s recce that “I’m OK” and appears confident he will be able to start the rally on Thursday.
“It’s quite an interesting rally to be honest,” he said. “A bit different to Poland but I guess in the end, all of them, they’re quite similar – fast as always.”
Mikkelsen told DirtFish: “Ott is feeling very well in his leg so we’re just here in case the FIA doesn’t say he can drive.
“But yeah, everything looks fine for him.”
Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi will drive the other two Hyundai i20 N Rally1s this week.
