Hyundai driver Ott Tänak says his Rally Chile retirement has left him feeling empty – and his championship challenge hanging by a thread.
Tänak started Friday’s final stage leading the event by 9.7 seconds, but was forced to park his i20 N Rally1 three miles into the second pass of San Rosendo.
“It’s just an engine failure, to be honest,” he told DirtFish. “I don’t know, half a kilometer, a kilometer before, I lost the cylinder. I just thought [it was] basically a spark plug or something. But then I carried on and then I lost another one and then, obviously, I realised that it’s worse than that…
“Everything was looking good after Paraguay, to be honest. And yeah, like today we could see as well, it was running nicely and it was all good. No indication, no alarm, no nothing. It was just, yeah, we lost it basically cylinder-by-cylinder and that’s the case closed.”
Tänak explained the engine issue to DirtFish at the side of the road in SS6
With three rounds ago after Chile, Tänak arrived in Concepción 18 points down on the table-topping Elfyn Evans. He admitted a rollercoaster season is beginning to take its toll.
“It’s harsh, to be honest,” he said. “We’ve had to fight through every rally this year, and it’s never been easy and straightforward. Obviously, our opponents are very strong, so it’s not been easy to take the fight with them, but we’ve tried everything we could. I mean, of course, it’s difficult to explain to be honest, but it just feels empty to be honest.”
Asked about the prospect of a second world title to back up his 2019 crown, he concluded: “I mean, probably mathematically, it’s still possible after this one, but let’s see.
“Let’s see where we are.”
Tänak’s retirement promoted team-mates Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville to ensure Hyundai retained an overnight 1-2, with Sébastien Ogier leading Toyota’s charge in third.
