ERSpeaking to the Betsafe blog (link in Estonian), the 2019 champion said: "Unfortunately, at the moment I have nothing to say about any plans for WRC for the new season. My Hyundai contract will end soon and I have nothing on the table for next year."

As to various speculation in the media as to why he and co-driver Martin Järveoja are without a top drive next year, Tänak said: "Sometimes it is perhaps a little difficult to grasp why any self-respecting person would gossip in the media in this way, but this is a fact of life, and, at the end of the day, this is all noise that we don't really need in our daily lives. There are much more pleasant things in life than the 'sauna stories' in the yellow media."

Tänak, who won with Toyota in 2019 and has driven in the past for the only other currently active top level WRC team, M-Sport Ford, said that internal relations and cooperation in the team had remained good coming into Rally Japan.

While given Japan's distance there were no options for testing ahead of the race, which starts Thursday and runs to Sunday as per standard WRC practice, the Estonian said that lessons for the car's set-up had been drawn from the last European round of 2022, Rally Catalunya.

This year's drivers' championship was decided a race earlier, in New Zealand, when Finn Kalle Rovanperä won his maiden title.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!