Tänak drove like he did in his best days, setting the fastest times on all three of the afternoon’s stages.
In doing so, he climbed to fourth place in the overall standings, overtaking Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä, who has struggled with pace throughout the rally. Tänak now sits 27.1 seconds behind rally leader Sebastien Ogier of Toyota, with just three stages remaining.
The start of Monte didn’t initially hint at such fireworks from the Estonian, but the afternoon loop turned things around.
“To be honest, I’ve been searching for the right feeling for a long time. Before the rally, I didn’t have any mileage with these (Hankook) tyres, so I was pretty lost from the start,” Tänak admitted candidly.
“But now, at least in the current conditions, we finally figured out at lunchtime the direction we needed to go with the tyres. I immediately felt the car had better balance, and I felt more comfortable driving,” Tänak explained.
Tänak is now in the hunt for at least second place at Monte-Carlo, with an outside shot at the victory still within reach.
“We know tomorrow will bring another set of conditions, so we have no idea what to expect. So far, every day has been different. We can’t rely on anything from today,” Tänak noted.
“We definitely need to do our homework and be well-prepared for tomorrow,” Tänak concluded.
