Tanak secures fifteenth career victory on Rally Italia Sardegna
It also marked the end of a barren spell for the Alzenau-based squad as its last WRC triumph came on Rally Spain back in October. On that occasion, Thierry Neuville was the toast of the service park.
Tanak and Järveoja’s return to the top step of the podium was achieved in resounding fashion as they set fastest time after fastest time to complete one of the toughest rounds on the calendar with a one minute 3.2 second margin.
“It has been [a] challenging [season so far], especially with this generation of car,” said Tanak, “but I am definitely very happy, especially for all of the mechanics because they put in an incredible effort towards the end of last year and the start of this year. This rally was never easy and they did a good job to keep the car going.”
“We have made some steps,” added Tanak. “In Portugal we were really struggling but we managed to improve here, so if the confidence is there then we can do a good job. We just need to keep working – there is plenty to do.”
In comparison to the two days that preceded it, Sunday was a relatively incident-free leg. Throughout the WRC field, the drivers echoed the same message: preserve what we have and bring the car home. That perhaps explained why 2019 world champion Tanak was allowed to keep bumping up his margin.
Leading overnight by 46 seconds, Tanak extended that on Sunday’s opener by 3.7 seconds with a 300th stage win. Number 301 quickly followed on the penultimate test, by which point nearly a minute stood between him and the Puma Rally1 being campaigned by M-Sport Ford’s Craig Breen and Paul Nagle.
For his part, Breen admitted he was only driving through the roads at “five or six tenths”, with Dani Sordo in third doing likewise. “We just need to keep this position and not push,” the Spaniard stated. Unsurprisingly, none of the top three were prepared to put it all on the line for a handful of additional points on the end-of-rally Power Stage, opting instead to cruise through the 7.1 kilometres of ‘Sassari – Argentiera'.
Three of the five drivers that collected the points rejoined the event under Super Rally rules, Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera in fifth and team-mate Takamoto Katusta in sixth being the exception. Neuville bagged five, Elfyn Evans three and Esapekka Lappi two.
M-Sport Ford protégé Pierre-Louis Loubet secured a career-best finish in fourth. Third time out in the Puma Rally1, a calculated approach came good for the young Frenchman.
“Thanks to the team for this amazing car – they did something very special,” said Loubet who has worked his way back to full fitness after suffering a broken hip when a car hit him in Paris at the beginning of October last year.
