Ott Tanak says that he needs to find the optimum set-up for the next few rallies as he will start from scratch since he joined M-Sport Ford this year, but is being confident with the Puma ahead of Rallye Monte Carlo after his test.
The Estonian driver left Hyundai Motorsport at the end of 2022 after a decision he made after Rally Spain three months ago and signed a new deal with M-Sport Ford for this season. The Cumbrian-based team scheduled a test for him in Monte Carlo a week ago and had the chance to prepare himself for the season opener which will start in two days. After his not having been able to win a title with Hyundai, his target for 2023 is to become a WRC Champion again in his career as there has been four years after claiming his maiden title.
"The test went actually quite well", Tanak said.
"I would say we were quite lucky with the weather, we got all kinds of weather so it was quite productive.
"The car is giving some good feedback and is reacting well, so it’s just about finding the set-up to find the optimum balance and also the peak performance.
"This is what it will be about, at least for the next rallies, it will be important to find this.
"For Monte, let’s say everything doesn’t need to be spot on but for the next rallies for sure we need everything to be perfect so they will be a bit more of a challenge maybe in the beginning.
"But as a base I would say the Puma is definitely not a tricky car.
"I need to start from scratch which is a big job, and obviously it’s difficult to get to a perfect set-up by one or one-and a-half days of testing.
"It’s obviously taking quite a bit of time and more mileage, definitely I would have enjoyed to do more but I mean in Monte it’s not mostly about the perfect set-up it’s some other things which are important.
"So still it was good to do these kilometers but for the next rallies as well, for Sweden and gravel rallies, we don’t have any base set-up so we need to start from zero and definitely it’s a bit of a challenge in the beginning to find the sweet spot".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Red Bull Content Pool
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