In the season opener at Monte-Carlo, the Estonian had to settle for fourth place, while his teammate Thierry Neuville celebrated victory.
At last weekend’s Rally Sweden, Tänak retired once and only collected six points from the event. His teammate, this time Esapekka Lappi, claimed the top spot.
Tänak is not yet fully comfortable with Hyundai’s Rally1 car. After Rally Sweden, he highlighted one positive aspect: that there are areas in the car that can be improved.
Read more: Ott Tänak highlights a singular positive aspect – ”After screwing up a few rallies”
In Monte-Carlo, Tänak experienced issues with Hyundai’s engine, which apparently were exacerbated by his driving style.
Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul emphasizes that Tänak does not need to change his driving style due to this issue.
“I think the way that he’s driving the car is exposing (an issue), but it’s exposing a weakness of the car, nothing else. Let’s not put it the other way around. The first thing we need to do is to fix that weakness, to fix that issue, which is an issue that’s been here for a while,” Abiteboul tells Dirtfish.
The issue is related to the engine’s software. Abiteboul insists that the problem needs to be resolved before the upcoming rallies.
“You could argue that indeed (Tänak’s driving) style is a bit different from Thierry. But again, it’s up to the car to adapt to all drivers – in particular when they are world champions – than the other way around,” the French team boss says.
The next round of the World Rally Championship season will take place in Kenya at the end of March.
