Tänak had a severe off-road crash on Saturday morning. Estonian Valmar Viisel posted a short video on the messaging service X, showing the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car crashing off the road at high speed into the trees. The crash occurred on the opening stage of the morning in Raanitsa.
Fortunately, Viisel confirmed that both Tänak and his co-driver Martin Järveoja are okay after the heavy impact. From the video, it is clear that the car sustained significant damage.
Tänak was competing in the national series within the Estonian ERC rally with the intent to test for the upcoming WRC round in Latvia, which starts in just over a week. However, this incident cut his test kilometres short. Nevertheless, the Estonian star had already completed traditional testing earlier this week for the upcoming WRC round.
The 2019 world champion has had a streak of bad luck recently. The last week’s Rally Poland was ruined when Tänak hit a deer on Friday morning and had to retire. However, Tänak fought back on Saturday to score valuable points, finishing as the fastest of the day and taking second place in the rally-ending Power Stage.
Tänak is currently in third place in the WRC standings. His teammate, Thierry Neuville, who leads the series, has a 21-point lead. Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, in second place, is 15 points ahead of Tänak.
