Ott Tanak admits that he started with many mistakes his season and is looking forward to having a clean rally in Kenya while he reveals that he did not feel comfortable with his car in Sweden.
The Estonian was in third place overall at the end of Stage 3 and was fighting for the lead of Rally Sweden with Kalle Rovanpera and Esapekka Lappi, but the first one was forced to retire in Stage 4 when he had a spin and hit a snowbank. After this incident, the engine of his i20N overheated and the radiator was damaged which means that he was not able to go any further and to return back to the midday service. The Hyundai mechanics fixed his car for Saturday and he restarted under the SuperRally regulations, but he opened the road on the penultimate day of the rally while he was starting second on Sunday. Generally, he was not able to match the pace of his rivals and scored only six points in Sweden, four from Sunday classification and two from Powerstage. After the end of the second WRC round, he is fifth on the championship with 21 points and is behind Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans for 27 and 24 points respectively.
"It has been tricky last weekend to have the pace we needed to be fastest", Tanak said.
"Obviously the mistake on Friday was frustrating and afterwards even more so.
"We felt better in the car on Friday when the roads were a bit more slippery but when the grip improved we just weren’t comfortable.
"From my side, definitely too many mistakes to start the season but we know we can be a lot better.
"We’re looking forward to having a clean rally in Kenya".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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