Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans, Oliver Solberg and Takamoto Katsuta react to Ott Tänak's decision to stop full-time rallying
Photography by Hyundai, Toyota & M-Sport
Words by Luke Barry & David Evans
Toyota driver Sébastien Ogier could sense Ott Tänak’s decision to step back from the World Rally Championship was coming.
The two drivers – who worked together at M-Sport during the 2017 season – have always had great respect for each other on the stages as well as a good friendship outside the car.
Speaking after being unveiled as a Toyota Gazoo Racing driver for another partial season in 2026 – where he’s said to be doing “at least” half the rounds – Ogier shared his thoughts on Tänak’s decision to DirtFish.
“You could sense that he was not really happy with the environment he was in recently, and in that sense you would say, ‘OK, this kind of decision can happen,’” said the eight-time world champion.
“But yeah, I’m not happy to hear that news. Everybody knows we have a good relationship together. I like Ott and he’s always been a tough competitor for me, maybe the toughest I had to fight in the last years. And we tend to always bring out the best of each other.
Ogier and Tänak have had some brilliant battles together - not least in Portugal, Sardinia and Greece this year
“I think it was a really enjoyable fight we had. So I just hope we’ll have some more at some point. But at the moment, at least from what I understood, yeah, there is a bit of a break. And yeah, it’s not positive news, but sometimes things like this happen and hopefully we’ll see him back soon.”
Ogier can relate to Tänak’s choice more than most, as he scaled back his commitments after 2021 to also prioritise family life. The key difference was Ogier remained an active WRC driver, while Tänak has no confirmed plans in a car at all.
The Frenchman believes stepping back may convince Tänak to come back however, and perform stronger too.
“Yeah, that part of the decision, I think I’m probably the best to understand that as I have done similar some years ago and I think at least I can see on myself how much positive and how much somehow this reset, and this extra free time, boosts again my motivation to learn again, to enjoy it, to enjoy rally at the fullest,” Ogier said.
“And maybe that will create the same in him and maybe, you know, this extra joy coming again to rally when you had missed it a little bit for a while will bring back a more happy Ott and even more competitive Ott.
“On my side I clearly can say that [at the] end of ’21, I wasn’t really having the motivation, or I didn’t have enough motivation to really carry on full-time for sure,” he added.
“And yeah I find some joy back doing it less but more intensively and more you know going to rally with more the wish to do it and not feeling forced, because you should never have this feeling because it’s a dream what we do, it’s a fantastic job and when I was a kid I always dreamed to do that.
“So it’s nice to find a way to really appreciate it again and yeah. with me it worked perfectly.”
Ogier’s team-mate and rival for this year’s world championship, Elfyn Evans, said “the sport will definitely miss” Tänak.
Evans told DirtFish: “He’s a character. He’s a fair competitor. He’s got incredible speed, especially when he’s at one with the car, I would say. And yeah he’s had an amazing career. I’m sure the service pack is going to miss him.”
Evans and Tänak were first team-mates 10 years ago at M-Sport
The duo had a similar career path at M-Sport too, sharing the team in 2015 before being placed on what Evans joked was “the naughty step”.
He added: “We both went through some tough times at a similar point in our career. And, you know, we both followed a very similar path, actually, back to the naughty step, back off the naughty step, onto the naughty step, back off the naughty step! So yeah, there’s definitely some good times there.
“He’s achieved some incredible things in his career obviously, but I would be surprised if we don’t see him back at some point. I feel like he’s got unfinished business with the sport, but maybe he feels like now is a good time to take a break and maybe, you know, he’s hoping maybe for… perhaps, I don’t know, it’s an interesting time in the sport. I feel like there’s a lot of unknowns.
“There’s a lot of potential need for some change and maybe, you know, it might be more attractive to come back in a few years. Who knows?”
New Toyota signing Oliver Solberg admitted he was surprised by the news.
“It came as a shock and it’s very sad, you know,” he said. “I’ve known Ott since I was a kid, in Ford back in the days with my father. He was babysitting me sometimes, and it’s a real shame, you know, because he is, for me, one of the best drivers in the world, and we definitely lose a big character, you know? He is a big character for the sport, and it’s sad.”
Takamoto Katsuta meanwhile felt similar to how he did when Kalle Rovanperä announced his intentions to trade the WRC for single-seater racing.
The Japanese confessed 2026 would be strange without two of his best friends around.
“I fully understand and respect that he has been a long, long time in the career, in the rally. He hasn’t had much time with family,” Katsuta said.
“Obviously, a rally season is so long and very tough and missing so many moments with the family. I have two kids now and I’ve seen [this] already now. So I fully understand and fully respect his decision.
“At the same time, I got so much inspiration from him since I started rallying in 2015, then I joined the Estonian team in 2016 and I was driving R5 Fiesta. So it was an Estonian team and basically Ott was part of that team. Then we started to meet a bit and [he was] teaching a bit and he gave me some tips and he joined Toyota [so then] more often [we would] meet up, family together a bit, you know, went to his home.
“So I’m really, really, already feel like I’m missing him. Two people who are my very good friends are not going to be in next year, full season anyway, so I feel very… yeah, sad.”
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