Hyundai Motorsport has called Andreas Mikkelsen in Latvia in case of Ott Tanak being unable to compete at the eighth WRC round following his accident in Estonia earlier this month.
Tanak was about to take part in an Estonian round with the Hyundai i20N Rally1 two weeks ago as a preparation for Rally Latvia. However, the 2019 WRC Champion completed only Stage 1 as he had a massive crash in Stage 2 resulting in damaging heavily his car, including the chassis. He and Martin Jarveoja were unharmed from this accident and were examined by doctors, but Tanak's situation will be reviewed by a doctor after the end of recce in Latvia as FIA wants to ensure that the Hyundai driver is fit enough to take part in Latvia. Last but not least, Mikkelsen is in Latvia and has already participated in the recce in case of Tanak's withdrawal from this week's rally while it must be mentioned that the Norwegian was fighting for the victory at Rally Poland until the time he suffered from a puncture on the opening Sunday stage.
"Having Andreas here doing the recce is really just a precaution", Hyundai said to DirtFish.
"Ott will undertake a medical check at the request of the FIA due to the high speed nature of the accident in Estonia after the recce but we do not anticipate any barriers to his participation in Latvia so we really want to stress that this is a ‘just in case’ situation".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Red Bull Content Pool
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