Ott Tanak says that Rally de Portugal was a very helpful event for M-Sport Ford and him as he understood further more his car and collected valuable data for the next upcoming gravel rallies.
The Estonian driver was leading Rally de Portugal at the end of Friday morning despite the fact that his Puma had a broken water pump during this loop, but he dropped to seventh overall on the afternoon of that day after a front-right puncture. Moreover, he said at the end of SS10 that he was struggling to find confidence with the suspension while later on Saturday he lost the handbrake on the superspecial stage. In addition to these, he had no hybrid power on the opening stage of Sunday, but he managed to set the fastest time in SS18. Eventually, he got three places back after his puncture on Friday morning taking advantage of his rivals' problems and finished fourth overall. After the end of the fifth WRC round, he is in second place on the drivers' standings, 17 points behind the leader Kalle Rovanpera, and will start second on the road in Sardinia in two weeks.
"Overall, a demanding weekend for sure", Tanak said.
"We have been struggling quite a lot, it’s just about understanding how we can go on from here.
"It’s my second gravel rally in the car now, in Mexico I wasn’t feeling completely confident and it has been hard to figure out what’s been missing, but I would say this weekend has given us a lot more understanding and now I think we have enough information to move forward".
Photo Credits: M-Sport
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