2023 WRC and Off Road Discussion *includes 'Dakar' *

[Cheeveer]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Tänak fastest at Harju. Not surprised. The rally starts in earnest tomorrow morning.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Tänak fastest at Harju. Not surprised. The rally starts in earnest tomorrow morning.

Tanak has pretty much said he is on a mission to win after his engine penalty last time out before the rally even started.

Ott Tanak has vowed to “put all in” in his bid for a fourth Rally Finland win after he began the ninth round of what has proved to be a troubled season for the M-Sport Ford driver with the quickest time through the Harju street stage in host city Jyvaskyla on Thursday evening.

Tanak beat Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville by 0.6s on the 3.48-kilometre mixed surface run with home hero and world champion Kalle Rovanpera making it three manufacturers in the top three aboard his works Toyota.

After his time-topping 2m39.0s run, the Estonian, who was hit by a five-minute time penalty prior to the start of his home rally last month, said: “We need to risk and a lot more. We will try, we will put all in and let’s see where it gets us. The ones we are fighting against are very strong. We need to put everything on the line.”

Full report: https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/08/04/ta ... n-finland/

[Cheeveer]

Welp, was an action filled today, to say the least. Tänak's the first to go, lost the engine on SS3. Loubet in the other Ford crashes out about 5 minutes later. Then Lappi crashes. And then, sensationally, while in a safe lead, Rovanperä completely bins it in the afternoon! Suddenly it is wide open, but only among the dark-horses Evans, Neuville, Katsuta and Sunninen.

Could be a fun Saturday. Neuville was a on a charge after Rovanperä's demise.

[SBan83]

Highly unexpected exit of Rovanpera...he looked firmly in control as usual. Finland is ballsy enough as it is but can't imagine it in the wet.

Was always a huge fan of Latvala, so rooting for a podium finish for him. It will be difficult without one of Friday's top 3 encountering problems.

[Cheeveer]

That Tänak retired so early is a damn tragedy. His win last year was the most spectacular win in rallying I've ever seen, so his early DNF really took the air out of this event.

That said, Rally Finland is always amazing. Evans does not disappoint.