M Sport's Tanak takes a big jump in Rally Italia which he leads. An M-Sports image
M Sport’s Tanak takes a big jump in Rally Italia which he leads. An M-Sports image
M-Sport’s Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja lead the way at Rally Italia Sardegna – currently holding a 24.3 second advantage at the head of the field.
Having delivered an intelligent drive through the challenging terrain, the Estonians are now in with a chance of securing a maiden FIA World Rally Championship victory and another win for the Ecoboost-powered Ford Fiesta WRC.
Team Principal, Malcolm Wilson OBE, said:
“It’s been a fantastic drive from Ott and Martin. Working with the team they made a great decision on the set-up for this afternoon and now have a good lead going into tomorrow.
“I was actually speaking with Markko Martin yesterday evening and I said that if Ott could just fine-tune the set-up then he would have a real chance of challenging – he has done exactly that today.
“As we’ve already seen, anything can happen, but he’s in a strong positon at the moment. He’s looking comfortable behind the wheel and just has to continue exactly as he has all weekend.
“Fingers crossed that we can deliver another magic WRC moment tomorrow.”
TÄNAK AND JÄRVEOJA
RALLY LEADERS AFTER STAGE FIFTEEN
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja have delivered an intelligent strategy to lead the way at Rally Italia Sardegna – maintaining a margin through the early stages and increasing their advantage this afternoon.
With a good feeling behind the wheel of their Ford Fiesta WRC, the Estonians posted a top-three time through all of today’s speed tests and claimed three stage victories on their way to the head of the standings.
“It’s been a big fight all rally and I’ve really enjoyed it. Some guys have been dropping out, but we’ve been doing a good job and all we need to do now is keep going and continue exactly as we have been.
“I think we had a good strategy for this weekend. Sardinia is a very special event and it needs a very special approach. You always need to keep that margin and that is what we have done and what we plan to continue doing.
“A massive thanks to the team as the car has been perfect this afternoon. They’ve been working flat-out all hours of the day – literally – and we wouldn’t be sitting here in the first position if it weren’t for them.
“There’s still 40 kilometres of very demanding stages left to come, but there’s a good gap now and we just need to finish the job.”
