Ott Tanak has put himself in the battle for the World Rally Championship title in 2024.
The 2019 WRC champion went into Rally Chile in second place behind Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville, having secured a win in Sardinia and four podiums.
Tanak has endured a difficult moment across the season, finishing way down the order in Sweden and Poland and crashed out of Rally Finland, which looked to put him out of contention.
But after finishing third in Greece, the Estonian leapfrogged Sebastien Ogier into second after the Toyotas suffered a miserable weekend at the Acropolis Rally.
Tanak won the previous two editions of Rally Chile in 2019 and 2023 and looked to continue that in 2024 and he looked to have secured the lead on Friday, but changes to the notional times after SS1 was cancelled gave Elfyn Evans the lead.
Ott Tanak admits being ‘lucky’ with Sebastien Ogier’s issues in Chile
Hyundai’s appeal against the decision was rejected and Evans kept his advantage, but the Welshman later lost his lead to Toyota teammate Kalle Rovanpera as thick fog descended on the course.
READ MORE: The ‘frustrating’ thing Toyota have done in 2024 that has cost Elfyn Evans the WRC title
Rovanpera went on to win the rally with Evans second and Tanak third as Hyundai did not have an answer to their Japanese rivals.
Neuville finished fourth, allowing Tanak to close the gap slightly by five points heading into Central Europe and he also bridged a bigger gap to Ogier after the Frenchman collided with a rock on Friday and left him way done the order.
Speaking with Motorsport, Tanak admitted being ‘a bit lucky’ with Ogier’s problems as he now looks to challenge Neuville for the title.
“Obviously it is a very big gap but let’s say Thierry is not safe yet,” he said.
“We were maybe a bit lucky that Seb [Ogier] hit trouble on Friday and other than that there was nothing we could do against the Toyotas. We gave our maximum and scored everything we could.
“They [Toyota] have bounced back, but let’s see. Now we go to tarmac and we should have good road position for that. Definitely the fight is not over yet, and we need to work hard for it.”
Ott Tanak is looking to battle Thierry Neuville for the WRC title
With the rallies at Central Europe and Japan to go, Tanak is 29 points behind Neuville with 60 points up for grabs.
READ MORE: Thierry Neuville makes ‘obvious’ Hyundai performance assessment after Toyota wins Rally Chile
Neuville has enjoyed a great 2024 campaign, winning the rallies in Monaco and Greece and securing five podiums and only finishing outside the top five only twice all season.
The Belgian has never won a WRC title and will be determined to grab his maiden crown and not let his teammate have any advantage.
But with Tanak looking to fight Neuville all the way, it will be interesting to see how Hyundai handle the situation, as Toyota close the gap to 17 points in the Manufacturers’ Championship.