Tänak was engaged in a tight battle for most of the rally with fellow world champion, Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier. However, Ogier made an error early in the penultimate stage, crashing into the bushes, which forced the Frenchman to retire.
This incident ultimately settled the battle, and Tänak cruised to victory. The Estonian’s win also kept the drivers’ championship theoretically alive.
“We came through unscathed, actually, in the end. Definitely was positive. Still very intense. Some tight battles and there was never time to breathe during the rally. Not an easy one in Japan,” Tänak said.
The conditions in the rally were sometimes extremely challenging, making it easy to make mistakes.
“It’s a relief to come through without going off. It was a very demanding rally, very intense battles since the beginning, since the first day. Always the four guys were so close together and never very easy conditions. Today, weather-wise, the most straightforward, but still, with the road conditions changing all the time and coming from the back, very difficult to predict where you have grip and where not.” Tänak recounted.
Ogier’s problems began on the first stage of Sunday morning. The Frenchman went wide in one of the corners, and Tänak sensed his opportunity.
“After that we had to push hard, and I pushed very hard, and probably he did as well. Obviously an unfortunate mistake from him after that,” Tänak explained.
Tänak’s teammate Thierry Neuville came to Central Europe looking to settle the championship, but now it remains open. Neuville leads the drivers’ standings by 25 points over Tänak.
“More about manufacturers, definitely, for me. So it’s always been my priority in the last couple of rallies, and it still will be. It’s difficult to take points down from Thierry at the moment,” Tänak firmly stated.
The season-ending Rally Japan will take place in mid-November.