Ott Tanak says that his target was to reach the top eight after his time penalty in Estonia and believes that his participation at Louna-Eesti Ralli was an advantage for him in comparison with his rivals, but he reveals that M-Sport Ford will bring no big changes to the Puma for Rally Finland.
The 2019 WRC Champion started his home with a five-minute time penalty as M-Sport Ford mechanics had to replace the old engine with a new one after the Shakedown session as his Puma carried an engine issue after the first pass from SD. During Rally Estonia, he managed to gain fourty positions and eventually to finish in eighth overall scoring some valuable points for the drivers' championship in combination with the two extra points he took from Powerstage. He was able to set the pace in six from 21 stages which were held on Thursday and Friday before Kalle Rovanpera started winning the one stage after another on the final two days of the event. After the end of the eighth WRC round, Tanak is in fourth place overall on the standings, 66 points behind the championship leader Rovanpera.
"Reaching the top eight was the target, and we achieved that", Tanak said.
"I would say our strength came from the small rally we did in Estonia last week, we were already in a high speed rhythm compared to everyone else.
"It was clear to see how our one-day rally experience before made our speed better.
"But it was a fun weekend and we’ve had a nice experience with the fans.
"I would say we are at maximum capacity at the minute.
"For sure, Finland is very specific so we will do a one-day test to do a bit of fine-tuning, but there aren’t any plans for big changes".
Photo Credits: M-Sport
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