Ott Tänak has become the latest driver to fall victim of Rally Italy Sardinia’s challenging terrain, retiring from the rest of the day due to engine damage.
The damage in question was picked up just a corner away from the end of SS9, when his Ford Puma Rally1 took too much water onboard at a big water crossing.
That cut power to the engine and smoke was seen pummeling from the hood with the stop-line within sight.
He managed to get the car to the end in EV mode and stopped on the road section shortly after the stop control to attempt to fix the problem.
However nothing could be done to sort the damage, and Tänak will play no further part in Saturday’s action.
That makes Tänak the third driver to pull out from Saturday’s stages, with team-mate Pierre-Louis Loubet not starting after damage picked up on Friday, and Takamoto Katsuta retiring after the first stage of Saturday morning thanks to a similar problem suffered by Tänak.
