Ott Tanak says the time has now come for him to down tools and “have a break” from World Rally Championship activities following his retirement from Secto Rally Finland on Friday morning.
Tanak had led the Jyvaskyla-based event after Thursday evening’s super special stage through the streets of the host city and vowed to put it all on the line for a second victory of 2023 and his first since February’s Rally Sweden.
Despite dropping to third at the end of Friday’s opening speed test after complaining of not being able to “load the car” through the high-speed corners, he was still only four tenths of a second behind early pacesetter and pre-event favourite, Kalle Rovanpera, who has since dramatically crashed out.
However, on the next test – ‘Lankamaa’ – the Estonian’s victory hopes were dashed by a heavy compression through a corner that damaged the underside of his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1.
The car’s sump guard bore the brunt of the energy, with Tanak later revealing this broke the starter motor and also led to an oil leak which left the engine “dead”.
Due to the severity of the impact, a spokesperson for M-Sport Ford said: “Sadly we have been left with no choice but to retire Ott’s car.”
It is the second event in a row that Tanak has experienced engine-related issues; on last month’s Rally Estonia the decision was taken to fit a new powerplant in-between shakedown and the ceremonial start. The trade-off under FIA regulations was a five-minute time penalty.
“Of course, we are disappointed, after Estonia this isn’t how we wanted this week to go,” said Tanak. “It’s a shame we can’t continue but the car is too damaged for us to carry on. Now it’s time to have a break after a few busy months, then we will focus fully on Greece in September,” he added.
With Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Elfyn Evans and Hyundai Motorsport’s Thierry Neuville still in the running at Secto Rally Finland, Tanak’s job of closing the gap to them in the points’ standings now looks increasingly remote with only visits to Greece, Chile, Central Europe and Japan remaining.
On the same stage that Tanak hit trouble, his team-mate Pierre Louis Loubet also retired with a broken suspension. He incurred the damage after carrying too much speed into a corner before drifting wide and catching a tree with the left-rear-wheel.
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