The Duck Rally (Pardiralli) charity event for children with cancer will be held for the 11th time on June 7. This time, 20,000 ducks are taking part and those wishing to participate can buy theirs by visiting the Pardiralli website. The aim of the rubber duckie swimming contest is to support the struggles of children with cancer and their families and raise awareness.

"The aim is to have winners and for them to have the support they need to win. I believe that such a fun event definitely helps," said Ott Tänak, this year's patron of the Duck Rally.

"It's difficult to say why I want to be involved. We know that there will always be more those who need help than those supplying it. We have tried to do our part every year, and this is one place where you need to give it your all. The Duck Rally team have been persistently fulfilling their mission for such a long time. They are becoming stronger from one year to the next, and the number of winners is growing."

Tänak recalled that he had a rubber duck with him in the car when his career started. "It was a symbol or companion I had with me in the car. I believe it might have been in 2008 when I started driving for an Estonian team and the mechanics attached a rubber duckie to my handbrake. The duck went with me to all Estonian and world championship races for six or seven years. It seemed funny at first, while the duckie's presence became kind of mandatory after a while," the rally driver said.

Asked whether he still takes the duck with him to rallies, Tänak said that when he went for a swim with his car in Mexico in 2015, the duck liked it and decided to stay.

Ott Tänak's wife Janika was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer the year before last. Janika's fight is under control today.

"It's very difficult to forget something like that. You never do. There were several stages in our case. The first was discovering a weird lump. The wait and not knowing is the hardest part of that first stage. You have no experience and you don't know what's going to happen. Next, you need to find the right doctors and faith that you'll be able to find a doctor who will always have time for you. Everything takes time. We couldn't tell right away whether it was benign or malignant. Finally, they took the biopsy and Janika went in for surgery. That was the most difficult moment because while there was hope it would be good news, it turned out to be very bad news instead," Tänak recalled.

"I was returning from a competition in Croatia and had to travel directly to Portugal, but I had time to call my team and tell them that I'm about to land in Frankfurt and need a flight home from there instead. They organized everything and were very supportive at the time."

Tänak was prepared to suspend his rally career for his wife. "It wasn't even a case of if I needed to. I could be home for the tough moments at first. I was there and looked after the kids when Janika went through her toughest weeks of chemotherapy. The home life was working, while she then developed heart problems. We discovered a thrombus in her heart. It all seemed too much at that moment. I was rallying in Finland, I think, and I remember thinking that I'll just quit and go home, that I cannot stay away. But she wanted me to keep competing."

"I think that someone who is sick needs to see life continue around them and things move in the right direction. If you start feeling you're ill, you start thinking you're ill. You mustn't feel you're sick even if you are. Family has always been a priority for me. Having things be alright at home is the most important."

The World Rally Championship (WRC) season is in full swing, with the next event, the Rally Italia Sardegna, scheduled for the upcoming weekend. Currently, Tänak holds third place in the overall standings. What are his expectations heading into Sardinia?

"Our start to the year has been relatively weak, but we've managed to move upwards. We definitely don't plan to maintain third place; we're aiming for something more. There's a long season ahead, and nothing is decided yet," said the 2019 world champion.

"I don't plan to finish second overall this season. Let's just say the goal is to become world champion. If another competitor wins the championship, it will be somewhat of a humiliation," Tänak said with a laugh.

--

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