Ott Tänak has been fined up to €4000 [$4,036.72] for failing to wear a Pirelli-branded cap provided by WRC Promoter at the end of Rally Estonia.
Tänak finished third on his home round of the World Rally Championship but it was a far from drama-free performance as his Hyundai team struggled. He was also handed a 10-second penalty for running his internal combustion engine through an electric-only zone on Friday.
But Tänak faced another visit to the stewards on Sunday afternoon after the conclusion of the rally for a breach of Article 1.15 of Appendix IV in the 2022 WRC sporting regulations. He had not worn the Promoter-issued cap on the powerstage podium, final podium in Tartu or the post-event press conference.
Tänak and Hyundai team manager Pablo Marcos met with the Rally Estonia stewards, where Tänak was handed a €1000 fine – which he has to pay within 48 hours notice – and a suspended €3000 which will be imposed if Tänak commits a similar breach at any point throughout the remainder of the 2022 WRC season.
The stewards heard that Tänak removed his cap on the podium “after the champagne spray because the cap was totally wet and the outside temperature was low”. Tänak stated that he removed the cap at the podium ceremony in Tartu “for the same reasons”.
Another meeting was then scheduled with just Marcos at 7.40pm local time where the stewards provided “clear evidence”, sourced via photography and the WRC+ video service, that Tänak wore the cap “neither before the champagne spray nor after it on both podiums and that his statement made in the first hearing was not correct”.
The stewards declared that the “incident had a negative impact on the commercial rights of the WRC” and that “it is further considered that after WRC Rally Spain 2021 Hyundai was already warned for the same issue”.
The conclusion was that Tänak had breached the regulations and that “the outside temperature cannot be claimed as mitigating circumstances”.
