Ott Tanak says that he did not expect to win in Ypres and managed to pull things together during the weekend despite the fact that he did not feel comfortable inside his i20N.
The Estonian driver won for a second rally in a row and totally scored 27 points in Belgium (25 points for first place plus two points for being the fourth fastest driver in Powerstage).
He was in second position overall until the start of Stage 15 where his teammate Thierry Neuville crashed and retired from the lead of the rally. Afterwards, Tanak was managing his lead over Elfyn Evans on Sunday and finished five seconds ahead of the Toyota driver.
However, it must be mentioned that his weekend was difficult as he suffered from a puncture in Stage 2 and had transmission issues on Saturday morning.
Last but not least, it is noteworthy that the last time that he won back-to-back rallies was in 2019 (Rally Finland, Rallye Deutchland).
"To win in Ypres is a big surprise for us, just as it was in Finland", Tanak said.
"We were not expecting to come here and take the victory, but it is great to see such strong results coming.
"We were somehow able to pull things together during the rally, even if I didn’t feel completely comfortable all the time.
"We know we can still improve even more and be stronger, so we will carry on working hard.
"The speed was enough to maintain our position today and to keep a good rhythm right to the end; I’m very happy with what we’ve achieved".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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