The gravel rally in Chile kicked off with the shakedown on Thursday morning local time. The shakedown stage is still ongoing.
After his first run in the shakedown, Tänak made a cryptic comment.
“Let’s see how the rally will go. Quite interesting times at the moment; not sure how much we can say. Still living the dream and enjoying driving the cars,” Tänak said.
Tänak may have been referring to his competitor Sebastien Ogier’s suspended €30,000 fine received at Rally Acropolis in Greece. After the opening stage in Greece, Ogier directly criticised the organisers, claiming the starting intervals were not long enough. The stewards ruled that Ogier’s comments cast the WRC and its organisers in a bad light.
Ogier’s first run in the Chile shakedown and his interview comments were equally peculiar. Ogier noticeably slowed down near the end of the stage and appeared to be inspecting his Toyota’s dashboard after crossing the finish line.
“All good. Nothing special,” Ogier said briefly, smiling afterward.
The statements from Tänak and Ogier have sparked considerable discussion among rally fans on social media. Some speculate that the two drivers may have planned their comments together in advance.
This scenario seems plausible, given the controversy surrounding Ogier’s suspended fine. The decision gave the impression that the FIA wants to keep the drivers from speaking out.
Ogier recently opened up about his penalty in an interview with the French magazine AutoHebdo.
“It’s sad to see that they try to silence us on matters like this. When I met the stewards at the rally, I apologised for the way I expressed myself, as the words I used might not have been the best, even though there were no insults or anything too dramatic at the time,” Ogier explained.
The Chile shakedown also saw the unusual strategy of several drivers conserving their tyres for the competition.
The gravel rally gets fully underway on Friday with six special stages on the schedule.
