Ott Tanak has taken aim at World Rally Championship officials after being delayed when an inflatable arch blocked stage 14 at Rally Latvia.

The Hyundai driver was angered by a bizarre incident during the Vecpils 12.64km when a promotional arch appeared to block the road and was subsequently collected by the car.

Tanak’s car was captured by broadcast cameras grounded to a halt with an arch draped over his i20 N Rally1. Officials quickly red-flagged the stage while Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja attempted to remove the arch from the car.

 

It appears the incident was triggered when Toyota’s Elfyn Evans ran wide at the right-hander before the arch. He collected a couple of advertising hoardings before driving on the grass verge close to the arch.    

«A bit of a silly mistake. I tried not to be too aggressive loading the car and got caught out,» said Evans.

 

Tanak, sitting in fourth, was clearly angered by the strange incident and took aim at race control.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Tomasz Kalinski

«I think this exactly describes how we are in safe hands in terms of race control probably they were having a nice meal and good wine when on the cameras you could see the road is blocked and there is a car coming.

«Well done race control. You are really taking care of us,» said Tanak on the television broadcast after eventually reaching the stage end.

«We are OK but f****** hell you could see the road was blocked and you [race control] keep it running. Hopefully, it was a good wine.»

«Car number 33 left the stage, damaging the supports of an inflatable branding arch towards the end of SS14 on Saturday afternoon at Tet Rally Latvia,» read a statement from the event organiser.

«It was clear there was damage to the arch and two staff, positioned specifically to ensure the safety of the arch moved immediately to remove it from the road. They were not able to do this prior to the arrival of car number 8.»

M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux was the first to come across Tanak adding: «It is quite unlucky for Tanak, I feel sorry for him.» 

The stage was restarted with Takamoto Katsuta, Fourmaux and Tanak receiving a nominal time.  

Rally leader Kalle Rovanpera won the restarted test by 3.9s to extend his lead over Ogier to 41.3s.

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A frustrated Thierry Neuville has ignited a debate on the World Rally Championship road position rules, saying “there is no reward” for doing a “great job” to lead the championship.

The Hyundai driver’s frustration came to the surface at the end of stage eight at Rally Latvia after a day sweeping the gravel roads at the top of the road order, as per the regulations for being the championship leader.

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Neuville ended the day in ninth 1m23.3s behind rally leader and part-time driver Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera. The Belgian, who has opened the roads since taking the championship lead in Monte Carlo in January, had expected Friday to be the most challenging day of the season, given three of the seven tests were run only once and not repeated.

“I don’t know what to say. Obviously, the strategy to win the championship is not the same anymore,” said Neuville at the stage end. “Now things like doing a part-season are much more fun and a bigger benefit for everything, so it is something to think about.”

When asked by Motorsport.com if he stood by those comments directed at part-time drivers and the current road order rules, he added: “Yeah, definitely. I mean, why I should have the pain in the ass all weekend, all year long?

“I mean, we did a great job in the beginning of the year, and now there’s no reward at all. Basically, you see your championship going down. There’s nothing you can do and nothing you can fight against the others.

“We could have, whoever it is, Ott, Elfyn or myself, the winner of the championship at the end of the year winning maybe one rally.”

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Tomasz Kaliński

When asked what the solution should be for deciding the road order, he said: “It’s an endless discussion, so I don’t know what I should still add to it. It has been said many, many times. When  [Sebastien] Ogier was opening the road there was some tarmac rally in the middle of the gravel rallies, and now we have eight gravel rallies in a row, what can you do? 

“Even with a 40-point lead, there’s no way to keep those points, so we have to fight.”

The European Rally Championship, operated by the WRC Promoter, runs a qualifying stage which decides the leg one road order of the fastest 15 drivers.  A similar system was in place in the WRC from 2012-2013 before it was scrapped. 

“How many years have we mentioned it? Nobody wants it [the qualifying stage]. I guess that the FIA and promoter are super happy [with] a young driver, driving for a second time, starting 10 on the road and able to set the fastest times. So that’s what they like, but that’s not what the manufacturers want,” he added.

Neuville’s comments sparked plenty of debate among his rivals on Friday night with rally leader Rovanpera forthright regarding his view on the matter.

“It’s the same for years. It’s not now more difficult than it has been in previous years,” Rovanpera told Motorsport.com.

“Now he [Thierry] knows what it is when he’s opening the road. That’s why everybody is crying. I’m crying when I do it, Seb [Ogier] did it for years before. That’s just how it is, you need to take it. Otherwise, if you don’t want to do it, don’t lead the championship.”

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

Eight-time world champion Ogier has the most experience of opening the roads of the current crop of drivers. He offered some sympathy, having battled previously to change the rules which he feels robs rallies of battles between the best drivers.

“Unfortunately, it’s like it is. I [was] suffering from this situation for many years,” Ogier told Motorsport.com.

“It’s funny that a couple of years ago he [Thierry] was often saying that I should stop crying about it, but now he’s crying more than anybody about it.

“It’s not fun and it’s not great. I think the shame is that we are missing opportunities too often in the WRC to have fights between the best because too often there are big differences between start positions, and then you just handicap the best too much. I have lost this fight for many years.”

Neuville’s nearest title rival Elfyn Evans, who ended Friday sitting seventh, added: “Of course, the qualifying thing has been discussed but it doesn’t seem to be favoured, so there’s not a lot more to discuss.

“If this is the way this is the way, it’s for sure frustrating and in some ways confusing with the championship contenders down the back end of the top 10, let’s say, but that’s how it is for now.”

Kalle Rovanpera has extended his Rally Latvia lead while home hero Martins Sesks stole the show to claim his maiden World Rally Championship stage wins on Friday morning.

Toyota’s reigning world champion ended the morning’s loop of three high- speed stages with a 3.2s margin over Sesks, who once again turned heads, winning two of the three tests in only his second Rally1 start.

Returning eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier dropped to third [+7.5s], while Hyundai’s Ott Tanak impressed despite his road position to sit fourth [+13.7s]. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta held fifth ahead of Elfyn Evans [+22.0s].

The top 10 was completed by M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux [+22.3s], Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi [+32.6s], M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster [41.6s] and championship leader Thierry Neuville [+41.8s].     

Overnight leader Rovanpera picked up where he left off after winning Thursday night’s super special, as the rally proper began with a 4.99km blast through the Milzkalne forests stage.

The Finn benefitted from starting sixth on the road as he faced swept gravel roads. The Toyota driver maintained his 100% stage winning start to the rally to extend his overall lead over team-mate Ogier to 3.7s.

Ogier produced a committed run that included a brush with the bushes to clock a time 1.3s slower than Rovanpera’s benchmark.

“I knew it was tight, but I tried an aggressive style and went a little bit wide in there. It was tighter by slightly more than I thought. There is going to be some close calls for sure,» said Ogier.

Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Takamoto Katsuta completed a Toyota 1-2-3 on the stage as the Japanese climbed from sixth to fifth overall.

Local hero Sesks, starting last of the Rally1 cars, also impressed to move into third overall after posting the fourth-fastest time, just two seconds behind Rovanpera and 4.9s off the lead. This was the Latvian’s first event driving a hybrid-powered version of the Ford Puma.

Only 5.9s covered the top 10 in the stage as Lappi, Fourmaux, Evans, Tanak, Neuville and Munster filled fifth through to 10th on the stage timing screens.

Tanak admitted he was struggling for total confidence while Evans managed to get the better of the Estonian and championship leading Hyundai team-mate Neuville, who limited the damage of sweeping the road to five seconds. The Belgian did drop from second to sixth overall.  

Neuville felt the full disadvantage of opening the road in stage three [Tukums 27.56km], as he conceded 23.6s. The stage proved quicker with every pass as Evans, second on the road, was 11.9s faster, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Welshman slipping to sixth overall behind Katsuta.

The stage was claimed by the last Rally1 car to enter it. Sesks capitalised on the conditions to deliver a stunning drive and record a maiden WRC stage win. The effort pipped rally leader Rovanpera, who was struggling with understeer in his GR Yaris, by 1.6s.

“This stage, Tukums stage! Last year we won it by 16 seconds, now we have our first stage win. It’s amazing,” said Sesks, who moved into second overall ahead of Ogier.

Albeit searching for confidence, Tanak posted the third-fastest time, 3.5s adrift despite being third on the road. Ogier was 1.1s shy as he dropped to third overall, 4.3s ahead of Tanak,

“The confidence is not really high and the car is a bit unpredictable,” said Tanak.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Tomasz Kaliński

His team-mate Esapekka Lappi experienced a similar feeling as the Finn struggled to extract pace out of his i20 N, adding: “It just feels horrible all the time, I don’t know why. I cannot trust for the grip and it makes things very difficult.”

M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux was among those fighting for confidence as the Ford driver was 12.1s slower than his stage-winning team-mate Sesks.

The final stage of the loop [Andumi, 17.86km], one of three Friday stages to be only used once, was the hardest-fought. But there was no stopping Sesks, who added to his stage-winning account immediately after pipping Rovanpera by 0.1s to win stage four.

“It was messy. I made [a] few big mistakes. We are just having a good rhythm I suppose. To drive the same times as world champions…I have nothing to say,” commented a stunned Sesks.

Martins Sesks, Renars Francis, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

Fourmaux found confidence in his Puma to post the third-fastest time, 0.6s off the pace, which was 0.3s faster than Ogier.

In terms of the championship fight, a frustrated Neuville, unable to compete in the dusty conditions, dropped a further 12.5s, a time that put him comfortably behind title rivals Evans and Tanak.

In WRC2, Oliver Solberg maintained the lead despite struggling with his Skoda. The Swede led Finn Mikko Heikkila by 23.8s, with Ireland’s Josh McErlean third [+26.7s] and Sami Pajari fourth [+33.5s]. 

The crews head to a tyre-fitting zone before taking on four more stages this afternoon.

Ford wants to keep the «opportunity to compete as a manufacturer» in the World Rally Championship in the future but has highlighted a need for an open set of 2027 regulations.

The American automotive brand is one of the WRC’s most successful manufacturers scoring 94 rally wins, a stat only surpassed by Citroen in the championship’s history.

Ford is one of three car makers currently represented in rallying’s top level alongside Toyota and Hyundai, competing with its Puma Rally1 hybrid, but the marque has been operating as a semi-factory team through partners M-Sport since 2013.

However, it has since extended its partnership with M-Sport which has been charged to help deliver the marque’s full factory Dakar Rally programme with its new Raptor T1+ entry unveiled at last week’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

At the launch, Ford Performance Motorsports global director Mark Rushbrook stated that he wants the marque to «own» rallying and said that the brand wants to commit to the WRC beyond 2026 if the future of Rally1 and Rally2 is «right for everybody».

The FIA is expected to reveal its 2027 technical regulations in December this year which will be key as the championship aims to keep its current manufacturer base and attract new brands.

«What happens in Rally1 and Rally2 has to be decided, what is the future, and that’s where we need to make our decision,» Rushbrook told Motorsport.com.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: Tomasz Kalinski

«We want to [commit], it just needs to be right for everybody.»

The FIA hinted in February’s proposals that the 2027 rules would be based around the current Rally1 concept using a common safety cell to reduce costs to approximately €400,000 and allow manufacturers and tuners to develop cars based around B-class, C-Class and compact SUV production models.

When asked which direction the WRC should take with its technical rules, Rushbrook felt the ability to be able to use a range of powertrains is important, adding: «We definitely want to keep the opportunity to participate as a manufacturer [in the WRC].

«We definitely want to have the full pyramid with rally racing. But it seems like different manufacturers want different things, so if the FIA can write the regulations such that you’ve got the ability to like in Dakar where you can go with combustion engines, naturally aspirated turbo, you can go with a hybrid, if you got that opportunity in rallying as well you can attract more manufacturers.

«Technical parity which is what Dakar does now with the equivalence of technology and with the torque sensors on the [vehicles]. So I think it’s things like that.

«But then there is also the promotional side of it, aside from the technical rules, making sure that it is engaging for fans to really embrace the sport.»

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