WRC: Toyota rules in Germany 🎥
THREE-FOLD WIN Toyota occupied the entire podium at the German World Rally Championship round. This has not been achieved by a WRC team in four years. Ott Tänak from Estonia celebrated his fifth win of the season. The highlights presented by Michelin Motorsport show some of the most spectacular scenes of the tenth WRC round in 2019. For 31-year-old Estonian Ott Tänak, it is the third consecutive victory [...]
The highlights presented by Michelin Motorsport show some of the most spectacular scenes of the tenth WRC round in 2019. For 31-year-old Estonian Ott Tänak, it is the third consecutive victory at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland and already the fifth in the current season. Kris Meeke from Northern Ireland and Jari-Matti Latvala from Finland secured the places of honor with their Toyota Yaris WRC.
The last time Toyota achieved such a resounding success was in 1993 at the East African Safari in Kenya with the Group A Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD. In the WRC, Volkswagen Motorsport succeeded for the last time at its home round in 2015, after the Germans had previously dominated their rivals at the Rally Monte Carlo and in Portugal.
Sovereign winner
Ott Tänak had built up a reassuring lead of over 30 seconds on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, he controlled his pursuers without taking any major risks. Thierry Neuville in the Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC was on a par at the start, but on Saturday saw himself slowed down by a puncture on the notorious Panzerplatte, as did his pursuer Sébastien Ogier in the Citroën C3 WRC. The Belgian had to settle for fourth place, 58.5 seconds behind the leader, and the defending champion from France was ultimately unable to finish higher than seventh behind the Hyundai trio of Neuville, Sordo and Mikkelsen.
Ott Tänak: "Our team has had the chance for a 1-2-3 podium a few times. I am very pleased that we have finally achieved this. Unfortunately, we had another problem on the penultimate stage. Suddenly we only had one brake on the front and I couldn't really attack anymore. But in the end it was still enough for us. That's a great moment for the whole team."
A new world champion - or Ogier again?
In the drivers' championship, Tänak now leads with 205 points ahead of Neuville (172) and Ogier (165). There is virtually no other driver in contention for the title. With four rounds still to go, there is now a strong possibility that there will be a new world champion in the scene dominated by the French since 2004.
