Ott Tanak announced today after the end of Rally Spain that he will leave Hyundai Motorsport at the end of 2022 after a three-year partnership.
The Estonian driver joined Hyundai Motorsport in 2020 and had renewed his contract which was supposed to expire at the end of 2023, but he decided to terminate his agreement with the Korean team after what happened on the second half of this year.
More specifically, it was clear that Hyundai Motorsport favored Thierry Neuville and this can be proven by not deciding team orders in Greece which had an impact to Tanak's WRC title bid. Last but not least, the i20N lacked reliability and performance in comparison with Yaris as many hybrid issues have been hit him this year while he won only three times so far in hybrid era.
"I would like to announce that I have decided to end our contractual agreement with Hyundai Motorsport and leave the team at the end of the current WRC season", Tanak said.
"This is a personal decision and one that I have taken with careful consideration and respect for the team.
"However, I feel that I am at a stage of my career where I need to embark on a new challenge.
"We have had a good partnership over the past three seasons, and I am proud of what we have achieved.
"We have worked hard together to overcome some difficult moments, and as we’ve shown this year we have moved in the right direction.
"The second part of this season has shown the performance level we can achieve when things click, but for me the time has come for something new.
"I thank the team for its understanding and wish them all well".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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