Tänak clocked five fastest times from the six special stages run during the day. Things couldn’t have gone much better.
His strong and consistent form was reflected on the stopwatch. Tänak heads into Sunday leading the Acropolis Rally by 43.6 seconds over Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier.
“We had a generally quite, quite good day – a very good day and afternoon as well. I’d say it went better than we expected,” Tänak admitted.
The Estonian managed to find an ideal driving rhythm—when everything clicks, the fastest times come almost effortlessly.
“I mean, we were still driving in our rhythm on the last stage – maybe a bit less – but still, I mean, not too far off. So yeah, it was getting quite tricky as well,” Tänak recapped.
Hyundai has yet to win a rally this season, but now victory is within reach. A win here would also earn Tänak a hefty points haul that could pull him right back into the thick of the title fight. However, Tänak wasn’t getting ahead of himself.
“Obviously, we haven’t scored any points yet. So yeah, we have some proper stages to go tomorrow,” he reminded.
Tänak’s teammate Thierry Neuville has suffered multiple punctures during the rally, but Saturday was reasonably solid for the Belgian. He ends the day in fifth overall.
“To be honest, we were hoping for a little bit more rain. That’s why we took some soft compound tyres this afternoon,” Neuville said.
“In the rain, anything could happen. And if there would be any possibility for us to make a good move and gain a few more positions. But unfortunately, not. So yeah – clean, smooth run. My tyres were quite dead at the end of the loop, but I think we managed to do quite well,” he added.
