Why Tänak's triumph in Sweden is a boost for the WRC

He may have jumped ship on more than one occasion, but Ott Tänak is back where it all began at M-Sport, and the championship will be all the better for it, says Damien Smith

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Ott Tänak's Ford Puma flies on Rally Sweden

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Just what we hoped for, just what was needed. From the moment M-Sport saved Ott Tänak from a potential year on the World Rally Championship sidelines, this prospect was alive – and now after Rally Sweden at the weekend it’s fact: the combination of Tänak and the Ford Puma Rally1 is a force that can take on the might of Toyota’s reigning champion Kalle Rovanperä and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville for a three-way fight for WRC honours this year.

The three best drivers in three different cars, all close to evenly matched. It’s the ideal scenario, and one that Formula 1 will be hoping to echo once the anticipated Red Bull vs Ferrari vs Mercedes battle gets underway in March.

The WRC is a little thin on genuinely elite-level stars, which is why the loss of Tänak would have been felt so keenly by the championship as a whole. As he showed last year at Hyundai, Tänak is the most likely to take on the 22-year-old sensation that is Rovanperä and thwart a new era of domination. Neuville is up there too, but it’s hard to shake off the inkling that the Belgian is lacking that final ingredient that would take him to a world title. I have a hunch he’d need a car advantage, but given how tight it is between the three manufacturers right now, he hasn’t got one. Still, I’d be delighted if he proves me wrong over the course of 2023 and lands a first WRC crown. It’s all up for grabs.

Kalle Rovanpera's Toyota

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The story of ice and snow in Sweden this year was an absorbing one. Rovanperä’s position as first on the road on Friday essentially left him with too much to do to win, but fourth place represents a decent exercise in damage limitation. Tänak too was hindered by an unfavourable road position on the first full day, yet he was able to stay in touch with delighted leader Craig Breen, who enjoyed a redemptive experience on his first outing back in a Hyundai. The Irishman was wounded by a disastrous year leading M-Sport’s Ford Puma charge last year and might consider himself a little lucky to have a Rally1 programme at all this season. His Hyundai deal is only for a partial campaign, but it began in Sweden and the 33-year-old absolutely made the most of it.

Kalle Rovanpera's Toyota

Reigning champion Kalle Rovanperä took fourth in Sweden

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Pre-weekend, Breen spoke about a need to rediscover his love of rallying, such was the damage done by the year at M-Sport. His ambition in Sweden was simple: “To get back to enjoying it again, get back to having fun. I’m a competitor and of course there are many goals I want to achieve. But I would say 50-50 for success but also enjoyment. I love everything about being in a rally car, but I struggled to enjoy a lot of what went on last year. It was incredibly tough and it took me to go back and do a couple of historic rallies at the end of last year before I got a smile back on my face for driving in a rally car again. It shouldn’t have to be like that.”

The smile was fixed by Sunday. Most, including Breen himself, wondered if his speed on Friday was just down to a favourable road position. But the way he kept the lead for most of Saturday, until a moment with a snowbank, a puncture and a loss of hybrid power helped turn the rally in Tänak’s favour, did a great deal of healing.

“I needed it for my own state,” he said on Sunday afternoon. “It’s been a rough old couple of months, over a year basically. I won’t say I lost the confidence, but it was difficult to keep the belief all the time. But for this weekend to be fighting at the front, it was great but there was still some doubt on Friday with our road position. As much as everybody else was questioning it I was questioning it too. Until you are at a level playing field with your competitors you can’t really be sure. But to continue to speed into Saturday and again today, we have to be really happy. It just leaves me hungry for the future now.”

The feelgood story had been diluted when new Hyundai rally boss Cyril Abiteboul – of Renault Formula 1 fame, of course – took a leaf from his old world and called a team order: Breen was told to pick up a penalty to hand second place to team-mate Neuville. Never a popular move, especially this early in the season. But in fairness, it was the right call. Neuville needs the full weight of Hyundai’s support if he is to mount a title charge and as only a part-time WRC contender Breen had to be sacrificed for the greater good.

Craig Breen's Hyundai in action in Sweden

Craig Breen scored a well-deserved second for Hyundai, even after team orders

Getty

Then perhaps karma came to the rescue on the final Power Stage. Neuville made a mistake and Breen couldn’t help but take back the second place he fully deserved.

Afterwards, Neuville was a little prickly on the team orders call, preferring instead to focus on the positives. He’d been ill ahead of the rally, missed the pre-event test and still felt rotten on Friday. Yet he’d overcome his own road position disadvantage to see off Rovanperä, set a bunch of fastest stage times on what is clearly not his favourite surface and scored his own confidence-boosting podium. “I didn’t come here to talk about tactics,” he snapped in the post-event press conference. “I wanted to talk about our great weekend we had which we didn’t expect… On the Power Stage I just did a set-up change and it didn’t work out. I didn’t feel as confident as I felt on all the other stages and messed it up. We missed a great opportunity there, but that’s part of the game.”

For Tänak and M-Sport, it was all smiles – or as much as you can expect when it comes to the usually taciturn Estonian. He’s well known to be hard work, as is shown by the fact he’s driven for all three WRC manufacturers and is now back where he started at M-Sport. But the best drivers are often difficult and demanding in any code of motor sport, and it’s that drive to be better that makes them what they are. A man of Malcolm Wilson’s vast experience knows that, as he acknowledged on Friday night.

Tanak celevrates victory in Germany in 2017

Tänak has been a winner before with M-Sport, seen here at Rally Germany 2017. Could he be the ideal fit this year?

Newspress

“He’s never happy!” Wilson said of his star signing. “I think we’ve got to face that fact, but at least it’s all constructive. And everything he is saying is for the benefit to make him and the car faster. If we don’t listen, we’re crazy. We’ll be listening and doing the work to give him exactly what he wants.”

Tänak only took a single stage win over the course of the rally, but admitted claiming a second Rally Sweden victory in only his second appearance in the Puma was “emotional”. The relationship with M-Sport will be tested on the tough days that will inevitably come at some point or another, and it’s then that we’ll really find out how strong this marriage can be. But for now, driver, co-driver Martin Järveoja and all at M-Sport deserve to enjoy their moment. It’s a big win – and bodes well for a classic WRC season.

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