Rallye Monte-Carlo: DAY2Tänak a tremendous second on his Yaris WRC debut

Quotes:
Tommi Mäkinen (Team Principal)

“It has been a very positive day. It was an incredible performance from Ott. We are all surprised what he has done so far and how quickly he has learned about the car. It is looking very good for the future with him. Tomorrow I am sure he will be very fast because now he has more experience with the car. Our team seems to be very strong. Esapekka’s road position was not the easiest and still he showed good speed, especially in the morning, while Jari-Matti improved during the afternoon. We still have two more days and tomorrow the conditions could be difficult in the snow, but I think it’s going to be OK.”

Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 7)

“This morning I was struggling a bit and I couldn’t get the feeling with the turning, but for the afternoon we made some adjustments on the differential and I was a lot happier. I wasn’t very confident on the standing water so I lost some time there but otherwise the car is going well now. We are in a good battle. We are very close to Esapekka now and the podium is not very far away either, so we just need to continue the momentum from today and see what happens.”

Ott Tänak (Driver car 8)

“It feels very positive to end the first full day in this position. We improved a lot today, and it is nice to be increasing in confidence with every stage. I want to continue in the same way: to keep learning all the time and to understand the car more. There are many mistakes happening from others so we just need to be really clever with our driving. There is definitely no need to push any more. The rally will not be decided just by pure speed: it’s more about the consistency and smart decisions.”

Esapekka Lappi (Driver car 9)

“I think my strategy to be careful on this rally is paying off all the time. I’ve been on the safe side today and still we are fighting for the podium, so I’m quite pleased with that. It’s been a good performance from the team so far but there is still a long way to go. The condtions may be more difficult tomorrow, with snow maybe coming, but if it is clear which tyres we should take then I think we will be OK.”

What's next?

Tomorrow’s schedule is made up of five stages. Firstly, a pair of stages north of Gap is run twice, with each loop followed by service. There will then be a return to Bayons-Breziers, which was previously run as SS2 on Thursday night, before the final service of the rally. The crews then make the long drive to Monaco ready for Sunday’s conclusion.