Tänak is currently third, just 7.8 seconds behind his teammate Thierry Neuville, who leads the rally. Earlier in the day, the Estonian had complained that the car’s setup wasn’t to his liking, but by the service break in Germany, his tone had shifted to a more positive one.
“We had a good clean day and no trouble. I really enjoyed the car in the forest, especially in the tricky conditions. Yeah, I felt good in the car,” Tänak commented to RallyJournal.com.
“Step by step it was getting better. I felt better in the car during the day.”
The nature of the rally will change on Saturday and Sunday as the stages move to Germany and Austria. The roads will be cleaner tarmac, and less dirt will be pulled onto the surface compared to the stages in the Czech Republic.
“Tomorrow we have completely different characteristics, so it will be much cleaner kind of straightforward with all the junctions and general like German characteristics,” Tänak summarized.
Tänak is still technically in the fight for the drivers’ championship, though with Neuville leading, the Belgian is close to securing the title. The gap between the two Hyundai drivers is 29 points in Neuville’s favor.
“The first target is to fight with Toyotas and try to outscore them. Then we see how it is with Thierry. But yeah, obviously all I can do at the moment is to help the team and then let’s see how Thierry is doing,” Tänak concluded.
Six stages will be run on Saturday in the Central European Rally. The rally will conclude on Sunday.
