Ott Tanak understands how Sebastien Ogier feels after the end of Rally Sardinia saying that he was in the same position a couple years ago while he believes that he is definitely in the game for this year's title fight as the championship heads to the second half of the season.
The Estonian driver was fighting with Ogier for the lead of Rally Italia Sardegna until the time he heard about Thierry Neuville's accident in Stage 8 where he decided to follow a safe approach in order not to lose the valuable points from his second place on the Saturday classification. He started Sunday with a 17,1-second disadvantage over Ogier, but he managed to cut the last one's lead to 6,2 seconds after the end of Stage 15. The Powerstage of Rally Sardinia reserved a surprise for one more year as a puncture hit Ogier three kilometers before the end resulting in losing 6,4 seconds and eventually his fifth win in Sardinia as the victory went to Tanak for only two tenths of a second. Moreover, Tanak was in charge on Sunday as he wanted to take the seven points from SuperSunday and was 0,2 second behind Thierry on this classification before the start of PS, but eventually he finished second on SuperSunday and was the second-fastest driver in PS which means that he scored ten points on Sunday plus 15 points from his second place on Saturday. After the end of the sixth WRC round, he shares the second place with Elfyn Evans on the championship, but the 2019 WRC Champion is set to start second on the road in Poland as he has claimed one win this season compared to Evans.
"I’m feeling so many emotions right now", Tanak said.
"I’m very sorry for Seb to lose a win like this, it is cruel.
"I have been in the exactly the same position having a ‘safe’ victory taken away from me a couple of years ago.
"It’s been a tough weekend but it is great to finish with such a strong result.
"Let’s see what the next rallies will bring; we’re moving into the second half of the season and we’re definitely in the game.
"Now we have some fast rallies which I normally looking forward to, but I was supposed to enjoy Saturday afternoon as well but it was just not going to plan.
"Hopefully we can find a good feeling in the car in our next events".
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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