Boarding a private jet to Finland, Ott Tänak is out testing today with a rally in Estonia also planned
Photography by Ott Tänak
Words by Luke Barry
Eat. Sleep. Rally. Repeat.
Those were the words posted by Ott Tänak on Monday morning, as he and co-driver Martin Järveoja wasted little time in getting themselves back in a Rally1 car.
After a nervy drive back to the Acropolis Rally Greece service park in Lamia with a broken gearbox, Tänak faced the world’s media at around 4pm local time content that a first victory of 2025 was his.
Soon it was time for the podium celebrations – but not for too long, as he had a private jet to catch!
Flying through the night over 2000 miles north-east, the jet landed in Finland with two keen Estonians ready to offboard.
By 10am, 18 hours after he sealed his Acropolis win, Tänak and Järveoja were back in an i20 N Rally1 and ready to switch gears. No more slow, technical gravel – it’s time for the fast stuff in Estonia and Finland.
Tänak and Järveoja are back in their overalls less than 24 hours after winning the Acropolis
The next few days are extremely important for the whole Hyundai team, as this will start to give it an idea if the upgrades to its i20 N Rally1 have truly worked as planned.
Soft-surface gravel is where the car has been weaker in the past, so is where the team is expecting the biggest gain.
“I mean for sure the chassis upgrades have helped us, or at least helped myself – you know, I feel better in the car,” Tänak told DirtFish.
“Definitely we’d like to do a couple of other things [but] we haven’t been on this car in any fast rally yet, so obviously this is experience we are missing at the moment.
“One thing is theory, the other thing is how it’s actually happening, so that’s something we need to see.”
After Thierry Neuville drove at Rally Sierra Morena as a warm-up for the Canaries, and Adrien Fourmaux benefited from a run at Rali Terras d’Aboboreira ahead of Portugal, this week it’s Tänak’s turn to get some mileage at a national rally.
He’ll enter Lõuna-Eesti Ralli (just like he did in 2020 and 2023) to further dial himself in for Estonia.
“Yeah we will do a small local rally, 90 km, just to get back into the rhythm,” Tänak confirmed. “So hopefully we will get good preparation.”
Tänak won his home round of the WRC when it was first added to the calendar back in 2020, but for each of the three editions since, Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä has been victorious.
It’s a different story in Rovnaperä’s homeland though, with the 24-year-old yet to win Rally Finland but Tänak boasting three victories (2018, 2019 and 2022).
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Ott Tanak, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date June 30, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/06/514656008_18509769943031655_8974031181756474304_n-780x974.jpg June 30, 2025
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