Tänak posted the third-fastest time in the test stage, 2.9 seconds off Toyota driver Kalle Rovanperä’s benchmark. Still, the Estonian admitted there could be surprises ahead.
This is the first time a WRC event is being held in the Canary Islands. Tänak is among the drivers who have never raced on Gran Canaria before.
“That’s the thing. Never been on this island. Never driven a rally car on these roads. So that’s all we need to see during the weekend and adapt as quickly as possible and make the best out of it,” Tänak said.
Hyundai has made updates to their car through homologation jokers, but according to Tänak, he hasn’t yet found complete confidence in the i20 N Rally1.
“We had the upgraded chassis now and I was first to test it. After the test, we were still not in a good place. Like, you can see, we are still quite busy on the shakedown to find a better balance and a better feeling in the car. So working for it now, and hopefully we are in a good place to start the rally,” Tänak summed up.
On the Canary Island roads, drivers don’t cut corners, meaning no debris is dragged onto the stage surface. But this doesn’t make the rally any less challenging—if anything, it adds to the difficulty. In a circuit-like event, getting the car to respond precisely to the driver’s input is critical.
“Very technical, twisty roads, that’s for sure. A lot is happening all the time. For sure it´s very demanding to find a good setup as well as this is kind of a super racing event, where the car also needs to be spot on. So it’s much needed,” Tänak explained.
“It might also be tough to get the tyres working properly straight away. There’s definitely a lot to learn in terms of how to get the best performance out of them. This will be a challenging weekend for the tyres.”
The Canary Islands Rally gets underway on Friday morning. The event wraps up on Sunday and includes 18 special stages covering approximately 300 kilometres.
