Rally Estonia: Tanak fastest on Thursday opener despite penalty
21st July 2023M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak was the fastest man out on the first stage of the weekend, to start Rally Estonia, despite being slapped with a five-minute penalty.
Thursday opened up the rallying action with a sole superspecial stage on the twisty 3.35km course: Tartu vald, which was held on the roads of Raadi Manor.
M-Sport Ford’s Tanak opened up his home rally with a stage win as he beat the likes of Elfyn Evans and Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi, by sixth-tenths of a second.
Despite the early stage win, it will mean very little to the 2019 WRC world champion as the Estonian Ford driver was handed a five-minute penalty ahead of the event. This came as the M-Sport Ford team had to replace the Estonian’s Puma engine after Shakedown which resulted in the penalty being imposed.
Following his run through the first stage, Tanak said:
“I would say that the more I have to go through today, the more it hurts.
“Our chances for the championship were quite tight considering our performances this year and we were working hard for these next two rallies.
“This was a proper kick in the balls.”
Toyota’s reigning champion, Kalle Rovanpera and Hyundai’s Thierry Nueville rounded out the top five with a fourth and fifth finish respectively.
Three-seconds behind the pace, set by home hero, Tanak, Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota), Teemu Suninen (Hyundai) and Pierre-Louis Loubet (Ford) completed the WRC runners in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Of the WRC 2 runners, Miko Marczyk and Georg Linnamäe rounded out the top 10, in ninth and 10th, with their respective Skoda and Hyundai machinery
The action continues on Friday as the teams embark on seven stages which will see them compete across 133.38km of terrain.
That’s all for the article; Rally Estonia: Tanak fastest on Thursday opener despite penalty!
Read more WRC here:
- Tanak to start Rally Estonia with five-minute penalty
- WRC2: Greensmith secures win in Portugal after Solberg penalty
- Rally Portugal: Solberg loses WRC2 lead after slapped with penalty
- WRC Rally Portugal: Rovanpera dominates Saturday to close in on first 2023 win
- Rally Croatia: Evans cruises to WRC victory in final day
- Rally Croatia: Evans leads day two as Neuville retires
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
