His teammate Dani Sordo holds second place, more than 20 seconds behind, while Thierry Neuville, also driving for Hyundai, sits in third, trailing Tänak by 45.2 seconds. Hyundai’s triple lead became possible after Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier encountered difficulties on the final stage.
Ogier’s car suffered a turbo failure, costing him a couple of minutes. The six stages on Friday provided plenty of drama, but the Hyundai drivers managed to navigate the tough challenge with minimal issues.
“Very demanding day and I’m definitely very grateful to come through without any drama or issues. Altogether still very positive day for us,” Tänak summarised.
“But we know very well how long way there is still to go and how hard it is to do the same job for the next two days. So still a lot to do.”
Even though Tänak made it through the gruelling Friday without major problems, he still struggled with his car’s handling.
“We were definitely trying to find better balance in the car and to fight. We managed to improve and actually the car was a bit better for the last few stages. In the end, this rally is not only about the performance, it’s also about the reliability to bring the car home,” Tänak reflected.
“We are definitely grateful we managed to do it today, but we still need to keep the heads down that we can do it also for the next two days.”
Saturday’s leg is especially challenging. Just like Friday, there are six stages, but the road sections are extremely long, as the WRC caravan heads to Loutraki, nearly 200 kilometres from the rally’s Headquarters in Lamia.
“It’s a massive day. Martin just told that we will spend 14 hours on the road sections. It seems like it’s a nice schedule prepared,” Tänak commented sarcastically.
