55 RallyRACC: The protagonists of the podium have their say

28/10/2019

The new FIA World Rally Champion Ott Tänak (Kärla, Estonia, 15/10/1987), started to race before becoming of age. He started in 2001, to be crowned national rally champion in Estonia in 2008. That very year, he made his World Rally Championship debut in a Subaru Impreza STi N14 and fought his way into the Pirelli Star Driver initiative, a promotional FIA series in which all drivers race in identical Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X cars. He participated in several of the 2010 events. 

M-Sport signed the Estonian in 2011, and he raced the World Rally Championship in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC and was linked to the team and to the make for a number of years. For the 2018 season, Tänak signed a deal with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT and placed the Yaris WRC third overall in the drivers' championship. In the 2018-19 season, he clinched the title with 6 wins out of 13 events held so far.

Ott Tänak has raced in 105 WRC rally events, pocketing 12 wins, always with co-driver Martin Järveoja: 2 of them were for Ford in 2017, and the rest for Toyota in 2018 and 2019. His maiden world championship victory was in Sardinia.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC), winner of the 55 RallyRACC
"First of all I would like to say congratulations to our two new World Champions. Obviously, we have been fighting all year and Ott and Martin have been very strong, so congratulations to them on their first title. It will not be so easy for them next year… I was looking more in my mirrors at the guys behind. We needed the times to go our way to remain in the fight. If Dani had come second, then the Power Stage would have been the decision. But, at the end, it is what it is. We did the maximum we could. We enjoyed the weekend and the feeling in the car was great. We look forward to the upcoming event and the fight for the Manufacturers' Championship. Now the goal is to win that championship in Australia".

Ott Tänak (Toyota Yaris WRC), second at the 55 RallyRACC
"Since Thursday, every second person is asking about the pressure and how your head is and how the championship is. It is not easy to manage because of this. I would say that in my life, I have had many difficult problems, so for sure, it helps to cope with this kind of situations. Still, this pressure was something new. At the beginning, I did not know how I would perform and how I would manage the pressure like this. I had no other choice other than to relax and try to get the feeling without taking any risks. I spoke with Markko Märtin last night, and his advice was to take all the points and not to push and he obviously was not happy with the Power Stage. Before the Power Stage, I had two options. Basically, to drive and hope that Thierry [Neuville] would not take too many points -and I knew this was not going to happen-, or to push myself and try and decide the championship before Australia".

Dani Sordo (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC), third at the 55 RallyRACC
"Missing on second place by four-tenths is not nice. We pushed hard and enjoyed. We thought we had pushed hard in the last stage, but it was not enough. But we are on the podium and we have points for the Manufacturers', so it is not so bad. We fought very hard in the morning and we did okay. We did some nice stages. I was hoping to do a bit more, but I am happy to be on the stage and on the podium".

Andrea Adamo (Director del Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT)
"This weekend could have been a little better, but it could also have been a little worse. In Australia, we'll have Thierry [Neuville] and Nicolas [Gilsoul] and Dani [Sordo] and Carlos [del Barrio], and we have Andreas [Mikkelsen] and Anders [Jaeger] down to do the rally. I firmly believe that we should support the team that has supported us all season. The goal is the Manufacturers' Championship".