Ott Tanak announces Hyundai exit

Estonian speedster and the 2019 World Rallh champion Ott Tanak has announced that he will part ways with Hyundai at the end of the season. 

The 35-year old who made his rallying debut in 2008 before making the M-sport Ford team for the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2012 says that leaving Hyundai is a personal decision. 

"I would like to announce that I have decided to end our contractual agreement with Hyundai Motorsport and leave the team at the end of the current WRC season. 

This is a personal decision and one that I have taken with careful consideration and respect for the team. However, I feel that I am at a stage of my career where I need to embark on a new challenge," his statement on social media reads. 

"We have had a good partnership over the past three seasons, and I am proud of what we have achieved. We have worked hard together to overcome some difficult moments, and as we’ve shown this year we have moved in the right direction. 

The second part of this season has shown the performance level we can achieve when things click, but for me the time has come for something new. I thank the team for its understanding and wish them all well. See you soon in Japan."

Tanak had a few stints with M-Sport but his move to Toyota Gazoo Racing for 2018 proved a masterstroke as he found his winning edge in the Yaris. 

Four victories gave him a chance to win the drivers’ title but his challenge faded during the last two months of the season.

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In 2019 and from early in the campaign Tänak had the aura of a champion in the making. Six wins from 13 rounds sealed the title before he delivered one of the WRC’s biggest shocks in years by leaving Toyota to join arch-rivals Hyundai Motorsport for 2020.

News of his exit comes days after the Estonian was reported to have hinted that hybrid boost problems that had hamstrung his opening day on Rally Spain were down to an issue on Hyundai’s side, although deputy team director Julien Moncet has disputed the idea.

On several of Friday’s stages, Tanak was left with either intermittent hybrid boost or none whatsoever. It left his i20 N Rally1 down on power and consigned him to fourth place overall, behind team-mate Thierry Neuville.

After remedying the issue at midday service the first time around by swapping units, the same thing then happened again on SS8.