Ott Tanak says Thierry Neuville is “not safe yet” after breaking away from his Hyundai team-mate within the World Rally Championship at Rally Chile.
The 2019 world champion overtook Neuville by five points last weekend, reducing the deficit within the title race to 29 points with two rounds of the Central European and Japanese seasons and 60 points within the standings.
In what proved to be a difficult rally for Hyundai, Tanak managed to enhance his i20 N with several tweaks throughout the event and took the lead in Friday's rally without taking a stage win.
The Estonian ultimately finished third behind Toyota duo Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn Evans, because the Japanese brand reduced Hyundai's lead within the Manufacturers' Championship from 35 points to 17.
While Neuville stays favorite to win a maiden WRC drivers' title, Tanak insists the fight just isn’t over.
“Of course it is a very big difference, but let's say Thierry is not safe yet,” said Tanak when asked about his championship hopes.
“Maybe we were a bit lucky that Seb [Ogier] We had problems on Friday and other than that we couldn't do anything against Toyota. We gave our maximum and scored every little thing we could.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
“They [Toyota] They're back to normal, but we'll see. Now we're going onto the asphalt and we should always have position on the road. The fight is certainly not over yet and we’ve got to work hard for it.
After initially struggling in seventh place when the course opened on Friday, Neuville announced he was completely happy to return to fourth place, limiting the damage to his points advantage.
However, the Belgian hopes to complete the championship sooner fairly than later to finish his internal battle with Tanak and deal with helping Hyundai fight Toyota for the manufacturers' title.
“Obviously some drivers made mistakes at the beginning of the race and from then on our plan and strategy had to be adjusted again and our main focus was on Ott,” Neuville said.
“We did what we would have liked, but we’ve got to be certain that we get it [the drivers’ title] this must be done quickly because there continues to be a fight for the manufacturers' championship and we should always be certain that that for Japan we will fight for this title like we should always. It's essential to not fight internally and be able to beat Toyota.
“We lost 18 points [to Toyota]and there is certainly a fight between me and Ott and nobody will take the largest risk, but we lost some small print against Toyota.
“They [Toyota] will import quite a lot of cars and can do it in Central Europe as well, and as a team we’d like to have approach and technique to be certain that we don't lose the manufacturers' championship.
