Tanak Explains How New Hybrid Rules in WRC Will Not Have Any Impact

The Hyundai driver was the first to experience a hybrid unit failure during the WRC Rally Sweden in February, forcing the team to stop the vehicle due to safety concerns. Tanak was racing for the rally lead when a red warning signal emerged on the Compact Dynamics control unit, even though his i20 was still running. In addition to the retirement, a ten-minute time penalty was imposed, virtually destroying any prospects of finishing in the top ten when the race resumed the next day under restart conditions.

Following demands from Hyundai, Toyota, and M-Sport Ford, the WRC and the FIA have amended the regulations since Sweden, decreasing the penalty for a comparable hybrid issue to two minutes every stage lost.

Tanak would have been able to contend for sixth place in Sweden if this new penalty had been implemented, saving valuable points. The 2019 world champion believes the essence of the issue has yet to be addressed, speaking ahead of this weekend’s Rally Croatia, where the new regulations will make their debut.

Tanak said, “The penalties have changed but obviously the issue is somewhere else. The hybrid [systems] are not meant for rallying at the moment and I guess this is the topic we should look into not the penalties. If you get a penalty, it is still something that the manufacturers or teams can’t do anything differently, so it is not in our control, somebody else is controlling. The penalties make no difference. Rallying is a tough sport. If you are running these hybrid boxes they need to be meant for rallying. At the moment for sure they are not. They need to focus on improving these boxes so we can do a rally with them. My view is that we are focussing in the very wrong place. The guys are focussing on when we get the red flag but the focus should be that we don’t get the red flag. It is a funny situation as I had to retire in Sweden and still now they [Compact Dynamics] can’t give us a reason why we had to retire.”

Following examinations by Compact Dynamics over the eight-week hiatus since the event, Hyundai deputy team director Julien Moncet revealed his team still doesn’t know what went wrong with Tanak’s hybrid unit in Sweden.