Tänak finishes second at Rally Sanremo
Estonian rally driver Ott Tänak (Hyundai) and co-driver Martin Järveoja finished second at a rally in Sanremo, Italy, on Sunday, losing to first-place Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville by 3.9 seconds.
Tänak won the first of seven stages with a time of 6:45.7, 3.3 seconds ahead of Neuville and 6.9 seconds ahead of Pierre-Louis Loubet (Hyundai). The Estonian however received 10 seconds penalty for a false start.
Tänak took the second speed stage as well, this time with a time of 4:56.4. At this point, Neuville began his climb and by the end of the third stage, held a lead over Tänak.
Tänak took his third speed stage after a short break and Neuville was penalized for being late to a checkpoint, leading Tänak to take first place again. The Estonian extended his lead to 3.5 seconds ahead of Neuville after the fifth stage but the Belgian responded by taking the sixth stage and first place in the overall standings.
Regardless of Tänak taking the final speed stage, he was not able to close the 2.6 second gap with Neuville and finished second. Tänak was eventually hit with another 30 second penalty for being late to a checkpoint. Loubet finished third, more than a minute behind Neuville.
The Sanremo rally is, in principle, a warm-up for the upcoming World Rally Championship (WRC) round in Croatia on April 22-25.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste
