Tänak: I expect a tough fight for the title next season! Who can dominate the WRC this year?

Elfyn Evans, Ott Tänak, Thierry Neuville – but the list is far from over. It was Tänak, driver of the Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT team, who said in a recent interview that he expects a tough battle for the title. Who do you think will dominate the WRC this year?

The 2021 season was the last year we saw the legendary Sébastien Ogier in the Royal Rally Class. The driver line-up for the coming year will be much more balanced, as Ogier has clearly dominated the WRC for a long time.

Only in the last three years has the battle for the title been clearly more even – the 2019 season was dominated by Estonian Tänak, but in the previous two years Ogier won again (the French driver is an eight-time world champion – ed.).

It should be noted, however, that Ogier had a lot of competition in Elfyn Evans. The year 2020 brought a difference of only eight points between first and second place in the overall standings, while the recently finished year saw a slightly bigger difference, namely 23 points.

In an interview with Motorsport, Tänak admitted to feeling some frustration. Last year, he scored more stage wins than any of his rivals, but struggled with major reliability issues.

The Estonian missed the last event of the season (Monza rally – ed.) for personal reasons. However, he says he is looking forward to the start of the new season, which will usher in a new era of the WRC thanks to the new hybrid technology.

“Let’s just say that the last two years have not been very successful, so this is definitely a good chance for us to build a good car,” Tänak told Motorsport.

“Even though we started later than normal and we’re a bit behind in development, it’s good to see people in the team still working hard. I am sure we will see a tough fight for the title this year,” added the Hyundai driver.

“We have focused on our own work and we can be proud of what we have done so far. If we continue to work hard, I believe our team will be very strong and we can achieve all our goals. I see a lot of potential in this car, it’s just important to understand how it behaves in heavy traffic,” concluded Tänak.

So is it going to be a tough battle for the championship? Very probably yes. Evans and Tänak are obviously the most serious candidates, but Thierry Neuville and Kalle Rovanperä are also very good drivers.

The latter in particular is showing his talent more and more and we can expect that he will certainly want to join the world title fight as well. It’s going to be an interesting season indeed, as the battle for the Constructors’ Cup championship will also be a close one.

Sources: Motorsport, WRC