Former world champion Tanak calls time on rally career / Photo: © AFP/File
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Former world champion Tanak calls time on rally career
Ott Tanak, the 2019 world champion, will retire from the world rally championship at the end of the current campaign, his Hyundai team announced on Sunday.
The team announced the news after the penultimate race of the season in Japan that left the 38-year-old Estonian fourth and out of the race for the title.
The former champion's final rally will be in Saudi Arabia at the end of November.
"After many incredible years at the top of the WRC, I have decided that the end of the season is the right time to step away," said Tanak who has won 22 rallies in a career which began in 2009.
"It is an opportunity to reset, recharge the batteries and refocus on the future.
"This sport has been a big part of my life but I think it's time to take a breath, spend more time with my family and focus on life at home in Estonia."
Tanak gave a special thanks to the Hyundai team and said he was "proud of everything we achieved together".
Driving for Toyota and with fellow Estonian Martin Jarveoja as his co-driver, Tanak was the standout driver in the 2019 championship winning six of the 13 rallies and finishing 36 points clear of Thierry Neuville.
This season has been dominated by Toyota but Tanak won the Acropolis Rally in Greece in his Hyundai, the only event so far to have been won by a different team.
Rally is also about to lose Kalle Rovanpera as the two-time world champion leaves to try a new venture, still with Toyota, in the Japanese Super Formula Championship.
A.Gasser--BTB