Tanak delivered a masterclass in velocity and tyre administration to attain his and the British workforce’s second win of 2023.
The 2019 world champion gained seven of the 16 difficult gravel levels to finish the rally with a 42.1-second margin over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who snatched second after late drama struck team-mate Teemu Suninen.
Tanak led after profitable Friday’s opening stage earlier than briefly dropping to 3rd after ceding 7s to a spin in stage two. He was additionally hampered by a lack of hybrid enhance from a heavy touchdown after a leap.
Nonetheless, two stage wins on Friday afternoon propelled Tanak’s Ford Puma right into a 4.2s lead over Suninen and, as soon as in entrance, Tanak by no means appeared again.
The important thing to victory was an impressed tyre technique name to take 4 arduous compound Pirellis forward of Saturday’s far more abrasive gravel levels.
Tanak posted quickest occasions on 4 of the day’s six levels as tyre administration turned paramount.
The Estonian’s lead ballooned to 58.3s with roughly 40s of that benefit arriving in stage 9, the longest of the rally at 28.72km.
Tanak was the one driver to run 4 arduous tyres, with the Hyundai drivers operating a mixture of arduous and delicate, whereas Toyota’s trio of Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanpera and Takamoto Katsuta have been diminished to a crawl having incorrectly opted for softs.
Having mastered the artwork of tyre saving, Tanak was capable of cruise by means of Sunday’s 4 levels to say his first win since Sweden in February, ending a troublesome run for the M-Sport workforce that has been tormented by misfortune.
Toyota’s tyre technique error put Hyundai’s Suninen and Neuville right into a battle for the remaining podium locations, with title contender Evans hoping to get better from shedding nearly a minute on stage 9 after operating his softs into the bottom.
Teemu Suninen, Mikko Markkula, Hyundai World Rally Crew Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photograph by: McKlein / Motorsport Pictures
Suninen, competing in solely his third begin in a Rally1 hybrid, impressed and briefly led the rally after profitable stage 4.
The Finn emerged as Tanak’s nearest rival by means of Saturday morning as he managed his arduous and delicate tyre break up.
He then started to lose time to Neuville with solely 13.9s separating the pair heading into the ultimate day.
Neuville’s Saturday was not with out problem after struggling a puncture in stage seven adopted by a lack of hybrid and an electrical fault that prompted a late begin to stage 12. The Belgian was additionally fortunate to outlive two wild slides.
Nonetheless, Neuville pushed on Sunday, profitable the primary two levels earlier than inheriting second when Suninen clipped a tree stump and broken his front-right suspension on stage 15.
Suninen retired on the spot, which promoted Evans, who led the rally at Friday’s midpoint service, to 3rd (+1m06.9s).
Crucially, he completed forward of title rival Rovanpera, who headed to Chile with a slim likelihood of sealing a second world title.
Rovanpera’s rally was initially hampered by beginning first on the street, which proved much more damaging than at different rallies due the street floor.
He additionally misplaced 40s to Toyota’s delicate tyre name on Saturday, which put him out of podium rivalry.
Rovanpera did win three levels on his option to fourth and claimed the utmost 5 factors from the Energy Stage. His championship lead over Evans has been diminished to 31 factors with two rounds remaining.
Toyota’s Katsuta produced a strong drive to complete fifth total, together with his factors serving to Toyota safe a 3rd consecutive producers’ crown.
Hyundai’s constructors’ bid was dealt a blow on Friday when Esapekka Lappi retired on the opening stage after clipping a concrete culvert that despatched his i20N right into a sequence of rolls on the ultimate nook.
M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet additionally retired on Friday after a daunting roll on stage three when the Frenchman was sitting in fourth total.
Oliver Solberg got here by means of an eventful rally to complete sixth to say the WRC2 class win from Toksport Skoda team-mate Gus Greensmith.
