The Estonian star, who last celebrated victory in Central Europe last autumn, took a commanding win in the brutally tough and hot Acropolis Rally in Greece. Tänak seized the lead on Friday, extended his advantage on Saturday, and controlled the pace from there.
But things nearly took a turn for the worse on the final stage. A gearbox issue struck Tänak’s car, and although he reached the finish line just 16 seconds behind stage winner Sébastien Ogier, the drama wasn’t over. Tänak still won the rally by over half a minute.
At the end of the Power Stage, Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja were cautious with their celebrations, as they still had to make it back to the service park with a damaged car. Thankfully, the gearbox held together, and the Estonian duo could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“I was very worried in the stage. First I understood that third gear got very noisy and then I understood that this one broke. And then the first few kilometres, the other gears at least were clean. But then soon all the gearbox got very noisy,” Tänak explained.
“We didn’t have too much confidence anymore to finish the stage, but we finished the stage. Then again we didn’t have too much confidence to get here (Service park). So let’s say it was definitely far too much stress to win a rally.”
Tänak’s strategy in Greece worked to perfection. He took full advantage of his road position on Friday and avoided major trouble for the rest of the rally.
“The clear strategy was just to keep the air in the tyres. That was the main thing and then to manage the tyre wear. But I would say we did everything perfectly,” Tänak said.
“We pushed in the sections where it was smooth, where it was, let’s say small risk. On these sections we gained the time and others where the conditions were rougher, we hold back. That was the key for this weekend.”
