The Estonian rally star has yet to announce what he plans to do after the current season. Some of the most daring rumours have linked Tänak with a return to Toyota, the team he left after his 2019 championship-winning campaign.
Tänak has two other options on the table: to continue with Hyundai or to call time on his rally career.
Before the start of Rally Japan on Thursday, Tänak revealed that he has already made up his mind.
“I guess obviously we more or less know what we are doing. But it’s up to the team to decide when the announcement comes,” Tänak said.
His comments suggested that retirement is not one of the options. When the Hyundai star was asked directly if he wants to compete next year, he replied:
“Yeah. This is what the announcement is for.”
Toyota will announce its driver line-up for next season on Monday after Rally Japan. Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala told earlier that he personally has not been involved in any contract discussions with Tänak. However, Latvala’s statement does not completely rule out a move, as he is not the one making Toyota’s final contract decisions.
Hyundai’s sporting director Andrew Wheatley admitted on Thursday in Japan that Tänak is currently the most complicated piece of Hyundai’s driver puzzle. According to Wheatley, negotiations with the team’s drivers are still ongoing.
Bleak outlook for Hyundai’s performance
Tänak now has only a slim mathematical chance of fighting for the title this season. He sits behind Toyota’s trio of Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä, 50 points off the lead.
In practice, all three Toyota drivers would need to suffer major setbacks in Japan for Tänak to have any chance of taking the fight to the final round in Saudi Arabia at the end of November. Tänak himself is not even dreaming about the title.
“I’m focussed on the rallies. I just want to do two good rallies,” Tänak noted.
Tänak and Hyundai were left in Toyota’s shadow in the previous round at Central European Rally. The Estonian does not believe Hyundai’s pace will be any stronger on the asphalt stages in Japan.
“I guess in Central Europe, it was not really the case that we had chances (against Toyota). And I don’t see any reason why it should be much better here. But for sure, we will give it our best shot,” Tänak said.
Tänak was second-fastest on the opening stage of Rally Japan, just a tenth of a second behind Rovanperä’s benchmark time. The rally gets fully underway on Friday with six special stages on the schedule.
