Defending FIA World Rally Champion Ott Tänak says “It will never be an easy job” as he prepares to get his Hyundai Motorsport career underway next weekend on Rallye Monte-Carlo.
Tänak took his maiden title in 2019 when driving for Toyota GAZOO Racing, but he made a shock decision to move to Hyundai over the winter and the Estonian wants to prove it was the correct choice as he lines up alongside previous title rival Thierry Neuville and nine-time WRC winner Sebastien Loeb for the opening round of the season.
Speaking ahead of the Monte-Carlo event, Tänak said: “The start of a new year begins with probably the most demanding event of the season. To make it even more challenging, we have a new team and a new car to learn while tackling the tricky conditions.”
“It will never be an easy job, but it is important to get a good start and to score some points. With the event held at the end of January, the conditions are normally inconsistent, and a lot depends on the altitude. In the lower conditions you can have dry tarmac, then the higher you go it starts to freeze. With the extreme conditions, its normal to find some unpredictability in this rally.”
Although he has so far yet to win the traditional season opener so far in his still relatively short WRC career, he has manged to finish on the podium in each of the last three years, with a best result of second coming back when he made his Toyota debut in 2018.
2020 Rallye Monte-Carlo takes place next weekend, with daily updates from the action on The Checkered Flag.
