Is Ott Tänak now the big favorite for the title?

Facts : After his hard-fought victory at Rally from Sweden, Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford) occupies first position in the Drivers' championship in WRC. Back in the team that detected its potential more than 10 years ago, the Estonian demonstrated that the Ford Puma hybrid could be at the level of Toyota et Hyundai. Has he become the number 1 favorite for the title?

YES, by Medhi Casaurang

Leaving the Swedish frost, everyone was happy. The announced (and feared) reign of Kalle Rovanperä following his coronation in 2022 has no effect, at least in the first two rounds of the season. Finally, we shouldn't be bored this year! And this is thanks to Hyundai, whose car seems to be as efficient as the Toyota, but above all thanks to Ott Tänak.

However, we cannot say that the Estonian benefits from the best material on the field. His team, M-Sport, only has semi-official support from Ford, and has done less development work since the introduction of the Rally1 hybrid regulations last year compared to the other two brands entered. . However, it is he who finds himself at the top of the championship!

The 2019 world champion seems to be coming back to life, and regaining all the vigor he had before signing for Hyundai Motorsport in the 2019-20 off-season. Placid in front of the microphones, even boring as his statements are brief and cold, the Nordic had fit poorly into the South Korean team, which had decided to share leadership between him and Thierry Neuville. The mayonnaise did not take, and in 2022 a difficult start to the season for Hyundai as well as personal concerns convinced Ott Tänak that he needed to find a way out.

The order was put in order, turning away from Hyundai to return to M-Sport. Because yes, Malcolm Wilson, the boss of the British team, knows Ott Tänak very well. Without him, the Estonian would probably never have been this great pilot. Via Markko Märtin, Estonian and ex-Ford driver in WRC, Ott Tänak became an M-Sport development driver at the turn of the 2010s. Malcolm Wilson supported his progress in S2000, then offered him his first outings at the wheel of a WRC at the end of 2011.

Ott Tänak in 2017 already with M-Sport Ford

It was again Malcolm Wilson who signed his contract for a full season in 2012, before voluntarily demoting him in order to complete his training in 2013. Returning to the World Cup in 2014, he matured patiently, until participating in the Team title in 2017 alongside Sébastien Ogier.

When signing his contract in 2023, Ott Tänak said: “M-Sport is the place that raised me as a driver and the place that taught me all the hard lessons and experience needed to become a top WRC driver. » The Tänak-M-Sport couple is united by a very strong and deep relationship, one that allows us to stay on course even when the boat rocks over a year where disappointments will inevitably occur. You will tell me, it's the same thing for Rovanperä and Toyota. But Ott Tänak has one asset: his experience. This is why I make it my favorite for this season, even if we have to hope that the WRC regains its suspense and its indecisive character of the great years!

YES, by Gonzalo Forbes

Seeing Ott Tänak on the top step of the podium at the Swedish Rally certainly made us smile, he who suffered so much internally on the Hyundai side last year. But don't we get excited too quickly? Very probably. Candidate for the title, the Estonian clearly is. To say that he is not would be an insult to someone who is one of the big names. To say that he is the favorite is a little more complicated.

Although he returned to M-Sport, the team that launched him into the deep end of the WRC, Ott Tänak is starting from afar, perhaps even too far. In this hybrid era, the Ford Puma remains a tone, or two, below the Toyota Yaris and Hyundai i20. The Swedish Rally is perhaps an exception but between 2022, apart from Sébastien's stroke of brilliance Loeb, and the Monte-Carlo last month, the Puma has never really stood up to its rivals. Can this victory on Swedish snow allow him to get back on track? Maybe, but we shouldn't forget a certain Kalle Rovanperä before thinking that the Estonian is the favorite for the title.

Because the favorite to succeed Kalle Rovanperä is none other than Kalle Rovanperä himself. It's no secret. Reigning world champion, the Finn has so far had no luck since he swept the road in Monte-Carlo, where he still finished 2^e, and in Sweden, where the podium eluded him by only 5 seconds. Then, it should also be noted that the Puma has often been in good shape in the cold, when it has been... Let's see if in Mexico in a little over a month it will be present again because at the opening of the season in the south of France she had not done so. So we just need to give the Finn time to take off for good. A takeoff which could take place on the Mexican gravel where it will not sweep the path on the first day and on a surface which has not really been successful for the M-Sport mount for a little over a year. He could then quietly begin his road to a new world crown.