The Estonian Hyundai driver took home 15 provisional WRC points by finishing second in the overall standings on Saturday. However, Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier pulled away during the day.
By Saturday evening, Ogier held the top spot with a 17.1-second lead over Tänak.
“Of course, I can’t be too satisfied,” Tänak summed up his day.
“I expected the first half of the day to be really challenging, and it turned out to be just that. There was a lot to do, and I had to use a lot of energy to keep up the pace,” Tänak continued.
Tänak anticipated that the afternoon loop would be easier, but it ultimately wasn’t.
“I really liked the afternoon stages and enjoyed them, but I just couldn’t get things to work, and I didn’t find such a good rhythm,” Tänak recounted.
Tänak didn’t take any unnecessary risks on Saturday.
“When you don’t have confidence, it’s quite difficult to push hard. You just have to take it easy and not take any unnecessary risks.”
Tänak’s afternoon strategy was also influenced by his championship-leading teammate Thierry Neuville, who went off the road on the eighth special stage.
“First of all, I didn’t have confidence, and secondly, after Thierry went off, I just had to bring the car to the finish, and I couldn’t take any risks.”
Sunday will be a completely different day.
“Tomorrow we have two completely different stages. One is run on the beach and can’t be compared to anything else before. The other stage is really narrow and actually quite fast. The Power Stage is good when you have nothing to lose,” Tänak predicted.
Tänak, however, does have something to lose. The Estonian grabbed 15 provisional WRC points on Saturday.
“We’ll try to maximize our speed, but at the same time, we can’t lose what we’ve already gained.”
