Ott Tanak says he won’t appeal a suspended WRC ban, despite claiming it was a “harsh” penalty considering how the stewards handled other infractions during the Rallye Monte Carlo weekend.
Tanak suffered two punctures on the Saturday of the opening World Rally Championship round, meaning that with just one spare, he was forced to return to the service station with just three inflated tyres, which is against WRC rules.
As a result, he was retired from the rally and later informed that the stewards had imposed a one-event ban, suspended for 12 months.
“My first feeling was that it’s a pretty harsh one,” he told DirtFish. “I would say to take me out or retire me from the rally was already quite harsh. To get the suspension after the rally, I don’t know, for sure, it’s a hard one.
“To drive [with] a flat tire at 50km/h, OK, open road, but still pretty carefully – and doing nothing crazy – you get a suspension for that?”
He questioned why others weren’t penalised as heavily for what he believes were more dangerous acts.
“I don’t know, other people driving with helmets open on a stage, which can be fatal immediately [in the event of a crash].
“A human life is worth €400, compared what we have done?”
Rally winner Sebastien Ogier and Hyundai co-drivers Carlos del Barrio and Martijn Wydaeghe were hit with €400 fines for driving with open helmets.
