Tänak’s fate was sealed on the rally’s sixth special stage. Tänak hit a rock, and from there, the car bounced into a bank.
That was it; the Estonian’s journey did not continue.
“Nothing special really. I guess it’s kind of something that happens quite often in Safari,” Tänak said.
“The rock was kinda hidden, and I couldn’t really react to it. Road was narrow with the banks on the side, so I had nowhere to go,” Tänak recounted.
“I had to take the rock, but the rock was far too big, so it just put us off the road.”
According to Tänak, the car wasn’t damaged so much by the rock itself, but hitting the bank damaged the car’s suspension.
“I think the rock didn’t do much damage, but I hit the bank very, very hard. So, we got all the damage from there,” Tänak reported.
Tänak’s season has so far been a big disappointment. In Monte Carlo, the Estonian quickly fell out of the win battle to eventually finish fourth, and in Sweden, he retired after driving into a snowbank.
Tänak openly admitted in Kenya that the season’s second retirement did not do any good for his championship aspirations. He also could not yet say whether he would continue the rally on Saturday.
“We have to see. We haven’t opened the car yet, so we don’t know the extent of the damage overall,” Tänak said.
