How Tanak spoiled Rovanpera’s Finnish homecoming

In Finland there is a concept known as ‘Sisu’, which roughly translates to ‘bravery’, ‘tenacity’, and ‘resilience’ in English. That is exactly what Ott Tanak displayed to pull off a stunning against-the-odds-victory at Rally Finland.

Bookmakers would have offered long odds on Hyundai causing a stir on the roads located in the Toyota World Rally Championship team’s backyard, where the formidable GR Yaris has been honed to the nth degree. Since returning to the WRC in 2017, Toyota had been undefeated at Rally Finland until the South Korean marque ended that hoodoo, leading from Thursday’s superspecial to Sunday’s powerstage.

This was supposed to be the triumphant homecoming for WRC runaway leader Kalle Rovanpera, having bossed the championship so far with five wins from seven rallies. While the home hero did his best to deliver in front of thousands of expectant fans, it was Tanak who ultimately resisted relentless pressure from Rovanpera to claim this year’s gravel grand prix. It was a remarkable feat considering Rovanpera had comprehensively beaten Tanak and Hyundai by two minutes at July’s Rally Estonia, where Hyundai’s wild handling and lack of outright speed was laid bare for all to see. Even Tanak didn’t believe a victory in Finland was possible but what eventuated was quite possibly the 2019 world champion’s best win yet.

It’s been 20 years since Finland crowned a WRC champion but its love affair with rallying hasn’t faded, and in Rovanpera the fever has reignited. An army of Rovanpera supporters flocked to the Harju superspecial on Thursday night, armed with flags and airhorns to cheer on its latest rally legend in waiting. It wasn’t enough to push Rovanpera to a stage win. Hyundai spoiled the party in what was a sign of things to come, although it was Thierry Neuville who won the honours from Tanak, with Rovanpera in fourth.

That stage win would prove to be Neuville’s highlight as the Belgian struggled for confidence in the i20 N on roads that he openly admitted don’t play to his strengths. Taming the unpredictable Hyundai was a hot topic on Friday, and was thrust into the spotlight when Oliver Solberg crashed out barely 300 metres into stage two. The rear of the i20 N snapped at the first corner, resulting in the Swede rolling the car and damaging the roll cage beyond on-site repair. Finland’s unforgiving roads had offered an early warning, and one not lost on a tearful Solberg.

“I should back off and do what Thierry [Neuville] does but I do not want to do that, I need to show speed,” said Solberg. “That is what is difficult at the moment: you need to show speed, you need to finish, but the car is so difficult to drive.”

Solberg's Rally Finland ended early with a heavy crash on the second stage

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

The Hyundai being difficult to handle has been a recurring theme this season and, as Solberg alluded, Neuville had backed off. “There are a lot of corners which I know are flat, but I don't have the confidence,” said Neuville.

It was similar for Tanak but the Estonian managed to drive through the difficulties. The result, a maximum-attack high-risk approach reminiscent of Colin McRae. "For sure, it's not comfortable in the car, but that's the only way we can go at the moment,” said Tanak.

The effects of such an approach were displayed after stage four, as Tanak added: “My hands are shaking a bit after a run like this. I'm not enjoying it.”

While Tanak may not have enjoyed it, the stopwatch did, as a pair of stage wins, the last arriving before organisers cancelled stage five due to the large crowds descending on the route, pushed the Hyundai driver into a 5.4s lead over Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi. Although the Finn didn’t think it was a battle he could win. "It's not a battle," said Lappi. "I am losing all the time! Ott is doing a good job."

"It seems as though the Toyota boys have been very slow to wake up this morning and now they are coming" Ott Tanak

But it was Lappi, benefitting from an advantageous road position, who led Toyota’s chase. The 2017 Rally Finland winner set his sights on reeling in Tanak, winning the day’s final three stages to trail the Estonian by 3.8s.

Lappi didn’t mince his words at the end of the day suggesting that Tanak had been playing mind games regarding Hyundai’s perceived lack of pace. Asked if he was surprised by Tanak’s pace, Lappi said: “Yes and no. The comments that we [Toyota] are unbeatable is bull****. He was just fooling us clearly, but I’m not surprised Ott is fast here in Finland.”

Tanak responded: “Well maybe they [Toyota] are making up how slow they are. For sure, it seems as though the Toyota boys have been very slow to wake up this morning and now they are coming. This morning since the first corner I was on it and I left nothing behind. I knew it was the only way. I have been living on the edge and mentally it has been difficult.”

Lappi took aim at Tanak's pace for Hyundai on Friday

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Behind, Toyota’s Elfyn Evans ended the day third but struggled to find the set-up sweet spot, while Rovanpera was 21.0s off the lead in fourth after battling through opening the road. M-Sport’s Craig Breen led the Ford team’s charge in fifth ahead of stage six winner Takamoto Katsuta and Neuville.

One of the surprises to emerge was Rally1 debutant Jari Huttunen, who ran as high as eighth in his maiden competitive outing in an M-Sport Ford Puma, before a fuel pressure issue dropped him down the order. Likewise, team-mate Adrien Fourmaux’s hopes were blunted when he broke a steering arm after hitting a rock, before suffering a power-steering failure.

It seemed on Saturday that the rally would return to a script that has played out frequently this season; rain arrives and Rovanpera produces his magic to obliterate the field and storm into the lead. Half of this was true. The Finn, now released from the shackles of opening the roads, took the fight to Tanak climbing from fourth to second, leapfrogging Evans and Lappi.

A true head-to-head between Rovanpera and Tanak developed. The intensity of the battle was epitomised on stage 17 when the pair set identical times, but it was a charging Rovanpera, who won five of the day’s eight stages outright to Tanak’s two. The Toyota ended the day 8.4s adrift of the lead.

Rovanpera’s push didn’t come without a couple of lucky escapes as he twice flirted with the ditches and trees but survived. One such moment forced a yelp from co-driver Jonne Halttunen, which in-turn brought a chuckle out of Rovanpera, who of course remembered that the ditch they hopped through didn’t contain any rocks.

While Hyundai deputy team director Julien Moncet admitted to being “spellbound” by Tanak’s driving, the Estonian knew he had a fight on his hands to stay in front on Sunday. “We have been able to keep the Toyotas behind and it has not been an easy job.” said Tanak. “Kalle is coming in fast and it is going to be tough to fight tomorrow. It has been full attack from the beginning so there is no point to change it.”

Rovanpera measured risk against reward in his pursuit of Tanak over the final two days

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Rovanpera’s charge arrived despite not being completely happy with his GR Yaris. It was also clear that, although desperate to win, he was thinking about his championship aspirations. “It is always a bit tough when you are fighting the car, but we still pushed the whole day,” said the 21-year-old. “I didn’t really leave much there. It was a tricky situation to push hard and be sensible.

“I know we don’t need to win it but of course it is a home rally and there has been a crazy amount of people and the support has been so nice that we want to give the fight for the fans but we will have see.”

The battle for victory turned into a two-horse race as Lappi, Evans and Breen all hit trouble. Breen crashed out on stage 12 when he misjudged a crest and clouted a rock-filled grass bank on landing, which ripped the right-rear wheel from his Puma, ending hopes of a points finish. The Irishman would return on Sunday to salvage four bonus points from the powerstage.

The scene was set for grandstand duel between Tanak and Rovanpera, as the Estonian continued his maximum-attack approach

Lappi was forced to reduce his pace due to a lack of visibility when bizarrely a rock flicked up by his car struck a tree and rebounded into his windscreen right in his eye line. It left him guessing where to place the car. “It was like a mirror and I needed to slow down many times,” said Lappi. “I just couldn’t see anything.”

Evans also drifted away from the lead battle after left-rear suspension issue on stage 17 necessitated a cable tie and jubilee clip repair on a road section.

The scene was set for grandstand duel between Tanak and Rovanpera but realistically it was over after Sunday’s first stage. Tanak continued his maximum-attack approach, which yielded a sixth stage win to push the lead back into double figures.

Incredibly the pair set identical times on the following stage and Rovanpera took 0.3s out of Tanak on the penultimate test. Knowing the victory was gone, Rovanpera kept pushing to take the five bonus points on the powerstage, but a remarkable rally win belonged to Tanak to the tune of 6.8s.

Lappi somehow finishes Rally Finland without a windscreen, part of the car roof and a leaking radiator

Photo by: Toyota Racing

There was, however, plenty of drama late on surrounding Lappi, who was caught out by a rut and rolled his GR Yaris on the penultimate test. The car suffered heavy damage to the rear wing, roof, windscreen and radiator, but somehow he refired the car and only lost 18s despite rolling three times.

From here followed a bizarre string of events as Lappi used his ingenuity to fix his wounded car to preserve third. With fluid pouring from the radiator, the quick-thinking 31-year-old gathered plenty of water bottles from stage end and drove to a nearby lake to gather more water to refill his radiator, while attempting to plug leaks with co-driver Janne Ferm. With the windscreen removed, the unusual site of a heavily damaged Yaris missing its roof battled through the final stage piloted by the goggle-clad Lappi and Ferm clocking a time only 13s adrift of Rovanpera to net third.

"This one of the strangest podiums ever," said Lappi. "Janne needed to shout the pacenotes because there was so much sound from the airflow. It was quite a story. It was pretty much OK [with the goggles on] there weren’t too many flies luckily. When I saw there were ruts I backed off to make sure no rocks bounced into my face."

Evans enjoyed a much more straightforward run to finish fourth ahead of Neuville, Katsuta and Gus Greensmith, who headed M-Sport’s charge that ended with Pierre-Louis Loubet retiring from eighth due to an electrical issue, which in turn promoted Huttunen into the points.

Late drama aside, Rally Finland offered a timely reminder that an inspired Tanak is a worrying thought for his WRC rivals.

Tanak wore multiple Pirelli caps on the podium after he was fined for not wearing one at Rally Estonia

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images