Ott Tänak - Future champion?

[flat_right]

"We only heard about it by then (probably referring to when it was announced?).

There wasn't anything written about this and I think something was lost in translation. Vice versa, when asked about how much does he talk with Ott, he said "We are good family friends and my son Georg talks with him often. Everything is fine. Ott is also fine."

I tried to understand what could the writer mean by this and the only logical thing would be the leaving of Adamo. Then Oleg Gross said that "Sometimes things happen very suddenly. Adamo's departure was very unexpected."

[EstWRC]

again a very good interview with his sponsor Betsafe, like two years ago but unfortunately no subtitles again, at least at the moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtVEwxlp5_8

Like always with him, he doesnt go into that details with the answers

- says the COVID situation hit them at the bad time in the beginning of 2020, cause there was a lot work needed to be done (he means with the car as i understand) and the fact that you can test only one day now and other restrictions
- after the Arctic test in Finland, he was rather pessimistic but they found the solution basically at the end of the Otepää Winter rally, found something with suspension.
- always felt bad with the car on tarmac rallies. The car was homologated in the way that it wasnt possible to change it (the way he wanted). They tried a lot of things during the year but never found the window where it worked for him. Says the problem also was that the car was designed by the people who arent in the team anymore, so you couldnt even ask what was the initial design for.
- they did a step back for Rally Estonia after the many breakdowns in a row, but that reduced the speed again. Now afterwards says it wasnt the right idea to push so hard in the beginning of the rally and have punctures but admits he was basically pissed off because of previous breakdowns and that the tyre came off the rim on previous stage.
- Thierrys crash cost them duration tests in South-France and they havent tested on gravel yet with the final car
- Signed the contract that early because if you dont, then you cant see any info at all, let alone test the car
- The guy asks if Loriaux said some funny words about the first version of the car but Ott has a cheeky smile and doesnt answer. Loriaux came when they started to build the second car
- The launch of the car was delayed because of the chip problem and new engineers coming to the team but all those things took time cause of COVID situation in the world
- Says that R5-s could be faster on some parts of the stages this year, maybe even faster on whole stage but all depends of the stage characteristics and the surface
- interestingly says that in the big picture the new car actually doesnt have much less aero than the previous one, it looks like that but because the floor now is sleek and that causes effect like with F1 car and it works
- doesnt get the decision to go back to stick gearshift, says that there is parts on stages where you dont want to have only one arm on the steering wheel + the possible problems with the gearbox
- the coming of hybrid brought extra workers also to the team because you need to do simulations to know where to use the extra power and etc. it will be done also during the rallies. And laughs that the simluation actually costs a lot although FIA wanted to reduce costs

[AnttiL]

Thanks, very interesting details

as for 2020, they had a big meeting after Mexico and thought of lots of things to improve the car. But all testing was banned until summer.

[TypeR]

Cool new information and he looks physically very well prepared for new season!

[flat_right]

A very good interview. Some other things that caught my eye

- Was asked about the missing of the final rally. Says that him not going wouldn't change the championship but would save a life of someone at home. It was important to be at home for a month and be a father for his family
- Says that Adamo’s departure was very unexpected for everyone. Says it was not related to his profession/work life and was related to his personal life. Doesn’t say anything more about it and says that if Adamo will talk about it in the future then we will know.
- Praises new roll cage and says good direction for the safety
- Also said good things about MSport as they have always prepared and started well if the regulations change. But doesn’t think anything about the testing videos of other teams as we don't know what is the purpose of the test, what are the conditions, have they remembered the stage etc.
- Was asked if they can drive and will they drive local rallies with Rally1 car. Ott said that if the local federation allows then yes, they can drive but as it is so early in the season and they don't have many cars then during the first year it will be difficult. But I personally felt that there is interest as testing is needed.
- After Thierry's crash, they didn't have any car to use. Cars were already being built before the crash and in the end they used the car that went to FIA for homologation and after FIA did its job, then they could start testing again. And the same car will also now go to Monte so they can't crash it anymore (they will have 1 more test before Monte).
- Ott doesn't go along with the new FIA president hype in a sense that everything he is saying is good and true but wants to see if the same enthusiasm is there after 6 months. But mentions that after a very long time, the top of FIA is not so much French people based anymore.
- Was asked about the problem especially on the final days of the rallies where nothing is happening and everyone is waiting for the Power Stage. Doesn't fully agree with the idea that we should start giving out points for every stage as the guy who leads the championship doesn't have a chance during the Friday stages. And also understand why Seb was always crying about it.
- Thinks the key point during the first year will be who reacts fastest to their weak(er) points.
- Also praised Hyundai team several times as team is doing a very good job. For example if they had problem with durability then they left no stone unturned and were always looking for more and also now, when they don't have team principal then feels maybe they are even more united.

[EstWRC]

yeah thanks for writing more, it was a long one so i didnt remember all of it. i think i have to watch it again some time

[flat_right]

No problem! There was a lot of info to unpack and I think if you would watch it one more time, you would get more points out of it.

[WRCStan]

Was he asked if he is retiring? 58 minutes of enthusiastic chat says it all.

[flat_right]

Was he asked if he is retiring? 58 minutes of enthusiastic chat says it all.

No and there weren't any hints from his answers that he is thinking about it. Rather I got the impression that he is satisfied with the work that they have done and is reasonably eagerly waiting for the season to start so he can see where they are. Car feels strong and more durable, feels that it can be modified more (compared to old) and some calmness resonated from his answers.

[cali]

I will add this about 2017-2021 car as Ott said that the car's base foundation was designed improperly (at least for him) and the perfect operating window was so narrow. He tried to save or improve as much as they could but for instance on tarmac he didn't felt good with the car at all.
He mentioned few times that how he operates or wants the car to be wasn't matching the i20 at all. He was happy that for the new car's design engineers have ironed out the mistakes of the old car. When asked if maybe he could've used engineers knowledge more during 2020-2021, Ott's reply was a bit shocking to me as he said that there was no original car' s engineers left in the team and thus no specific information available.

I must give huge props for the interviewer (Kalev Kruus), he is every time properly prepared, asks questions which are more advanced and looks into more details. He is huge rally fan himself. I really miss it even on the WRC and AllLive as well. He is a no bullshit journalist and imho we need more guys like him be it on local or world stage. Very enjoyable interview.

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