Arctic Rally win puts Ott Tänak over 1,000 career points

The most succesful year for the Estonian driver was 2019, when he and co-driver Martin Järveoja took the world championship, collecting 263 points for the historic season.

On Sunday, Tänak became the ninth pilot in WRC history to eclipse 1,000 career points. The list is headed by seven-time world champ Sebastien Ogier (Toyota) with an astonishing 2,338 point tally.

It must also be considered that rule changes have made points a little more collectible. Additional stages have also been added to recent seasons.

Sunday’s win came in Toyota’s backyard

Tänak and Järveoja won the second WRC round of the season on Sunday, finishing 17.5 seconds ahead of Finn Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) who now has the most points (39 points) and 19.8 seconds ahead of Hyundai stablemate Thierry Neuville (35 points).

Tänak is now fifth with 27 points after dropping out of the opening round of the season in Monte Carlo.

Ott Tänak and copilot Martin Järveoja won half of the ten special stages, leading the rally from start to finish, to arrive at Tänak’s 14th WRC victory overall and the second behind the wheel of Hyundai.

“First, when you come to a new event it’s always a bit unexpected. This weekend, we came to the home country of Toyota and we expected them to be very strong. The pressure was there and we knew it was going to be very complicated to take the fight,” Tänak said after the rally.

“In the end we had a very good weekend – nothing too much, only one mistake yesterday. It’s an amazing place – definitely one of the best places to have a winter rally, especially yesterday, it was so demanding. I think to come back here a second time would be much more enjoyable, especially when you know where you are going,” the Estonian noted.

The Arctic Rally was a replacement for Rally Sweden, which was cancelled at the end of 2020 due to increased restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The replacement rally near Rovaniemi, Finland, however was quite a substitute when it comes to snowy conditions. Drivers had to navigate through thick snow and pitch-black darkness, which Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja thrived in.

Soure: news.err.com