Autosport Top 50 of 2024: #41 Ott Tanak

There have been no points with Ott Tanak’s velocity on his return to Hyundai’s World Rally Championship squad after a season at M-Sport, however consistency was missing.

The Estonian wasn’t all the time comfy behind the wheel of a much-improved i20 N Rally1 relative to the 2022-spec automotive, however did tame it to his liking in the direction of the top of the yr. Two wins helped take the drivers’ title struggle right down to the wire in Japan, however his season was suffering from crashes and misfortune.

His accident in the season finale was costly within the producers’ struggle as Toyota defeated Hyundai by three factors. 

How did Tanak fare on his Hyundai return? 

A lot was fabricated from the information that the 2019 world champion would return to Hyundai for the 2024 marketing campaign alongside Thierry Neuville. A heated intra-team battle was anticipated between two drivers which have a tense relationship at the perfect of instances.

Wins in Sardinia and Central Europe matched the tally he achieved in 2023, the place Tanak outperformed his M-Sport Ford Puma which had undergone much less improvement than the i20 N. However as in 2023, it took some time for the 2019 champion to get comfy in his new environment. 

A fast look on the stage wins tally exhibits Neuville gained that battle 45-29, however it have to be mentioned that the previous accomplished extra levels. In 2023, Tanak gained yet one more stage than this yr and in 2022, he edged then Hyundai team-mate Neuville 41-34.

This struggle to find the Hyundai’s set-up sweet spot, coupled with errors and misfortune firstly of the yr, put Tanak on the again foot early on in his struggle with Neuville.  

In Monte Carlo, he was caught out by an ice patch and battled an engine mapping issue, whereas in Sweden he discovered a snowbank. Kenya’s collision with a rock in the road was extraordinarily unlucky, as was a collision with a deer while in contention in Poland, however a roll in Finland was damaging.   

When he was on type, Tanak was extraordinarily quick – as his victory in Sardinia highlighted. That was nearly proved once more in Japan, having dominated the occasion earlier than pushing simply barely over the restrict. 

On Sunday factors, the comparability between Tanak and Neuville is fascinating. Tanak scored solely six fewer than Neuville, though in the case of the Energy Stage the newly topped world champion additionally outscored his stablemate by 10 factors.    

However the essential issue that attributed to the 42-point hole on the finish of the yr was these non-scores in Finland and Japan, the latter an occasion Tanak had comfortably within the bag earlier than that now well-known crash. Consistency is the place Neuville had the sting over Tanak, as he scored factors in each spherical and proved the grasp of this yr’s radical level system. 

Now with Adrien Fourmaux added to the full-time driver ranks on the Korean marque, the competitors can be much more intense at Hyundai. However with a yr underneath his belt within the I20 N, you possibly can count on a fightback from Tanak in 2025.

Can Tanak construct on his season of reacclimatising to Hyundai and maintain one other title problem subsequent time period?

Photograph by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport