M-Sport Ford have made their first driver signing for the 2023 World Rally Championship season with Ott Tänak.
Former Hyundai Motorsport driver, Ott Tänak, had been with the Korean manufacturer for the past three seasons, however at the end of the ’22 season Tänak announced that he was parting ways with the team with the partnership failing to add any more titles to Tänak’s 2019 title that he won with Toyota.
There has been plenty of speculation as to what the future may hold for the Estonian, but the answer has now been given. Tänak returns to the team that gave him his start back in 2011 in a WRC support category and the place where he got his first WRC win in 2017 at the Rally Italia Sardegna.
“M-Sport is the place that raised me as a driver and the place that taught me all the hard lessons and experience to become a top-level player in the World Rally Championship,” said Tänak. “Since becoming a world champion, I have not been able to defend the title, and I will not be able to make peace with myself until I do!”
M-Sport Managing Director Malcolm Wilson was similarly up-beat when commenting about the partnership.
“He has been to Dovenby to view our facilities and test the Puma in Greystoke Forest. It is fair to say from Ott’s initial feedback that we are confident we can challenge for the world championship in 2023
Tänak is set to compete in all 13 rallies with his co-driver Martin Järveoja but the identities of his teammates are yet to be announced.
Leaving Toyota for Hyundai, having just won the title, wasn’t the smartest move anyone has ever made in WRC, but this is bleedin’ stupid. He should have talked to Breen, who thought he was in clover when he got a full-time drive in the poxy Ford, but was more than delighted to jump back into a part-time Hyundai spot by the end of the year. If he thinks he’s had problems in his personal life, they’re going to pale into insignificance compared to the problems he will be facing at work. What a numpty move he’s made.
I think your are totally wrong running down the puma I don’t know what part of the WRC your watching, Monte last year first time out with a new car the puma and Leob wins and led other rally’s set fastest times just could not get the podiums in the last half of the year.
I think Malcom Wilson and Richard Milner has done a brilliant job for ford motorsport on the budget they have and I think Ott Tanak has made the proper decision if he hadn’t left M-Sport he could have been World Champion maybe a few times. Look what Seb Oiger did with the Fiesta his first year
Firstly, all the cars were new at Monte Carlo, so that’s a moot point. Loeb won there on his local knowledge, with smart tyre choices, not because of the car. He would have won that rally in whichever car he was sitting, because he knew the roads better than the others and in those conditions that was crucial. And never mind the second half of the year, after that first rally Ford’s useless car achieved one podium from the remaining twelve rallies, one thirty-sixth of the podiums available. The notion that Tanak would have won more races, let alone titles, in a Ford is laughable. Their car has been the runt of the field for several years, with no evidence to date of that changing anytime soon. However, it doesn’t surprise me that you can’t see any of this, when you looked at that comment you posted and decided it was ready to publish with the multitude of grammatical errors it contains.