Ott Tanak is being harsh with the decision of Hyundai not letting him to have a fair fight with Thierry Neuville in Greece last weekend and hints that his team looked more about the PR than the drivers' championship.
There ware big discussions during Acropolis Rally if Hyundai should make team orders with the intention of letting Tanak win in Greece as he has greater chances to fight with Kalle Rovanpera for this season's title than Neuville.
However, the Korean team decided that Tanak had to slow down and let Neuville win this event, because it wanted to secure his first 1-2-3 finish in WRC. This decision may be crucial for the drivers' championship as Tanak is now 53 points behind Rovanpera while he could be 46 points behind the last one if Hyundai made the decision for Neuville dropping one place.
"It depends what is the target", Tanak said
"If you are to fight for the drivers' championship then it was wrong and if you want to have good PR it is the right decision.
"It depends whose perspective you are looking from.
"My perspective is I want to fight for the championship, but it is shame that we couldn’t do it in a fair fight.
"On Friday, we were carrying the broken hybrid unit for nothing and yesterday morning we had other issues so we were not close enough".
On the other hand, Julien Moncet said: "Of course I can understand his frustration.
"I would have understood the frustration for Thierry as well if we would have swapped, or whatever.
"This is a really difficult situation that everyone hates.
"You cannot make everyone happy.
"We had some chats internally but we decided to hold the positions.
"It is a difficult situation and we have decided, so that is it.
"It is always possible and even if you look at Thierry it is possible.
"The chances are quite small.
"I don’t think they are zero.
"We would need Kalle Rovanpera to do other mistakes, but it is not impossible and if there is a chance we will continue.
"But we have made a good step today in the manufacturers’ championship which is very important for us".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
Post a Comment