Ott Tänak and Martin Jarveoja claimed their first victory with M-Sport Ford World Rally Team in the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 in 2023.
Tänak has claimed his second Rally Sweden victory and his first win with M-Sport since 2017. This was only his second FIA World Rally Championship in the incredible Ford Puma!
This win counted for a lot in the championship, as Ott Tänak and Martin Jarveoja now lead both the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championships. This is because their recent win gained them an additional two points in the substantial final Power Stage.
What’s even better, a phenomenal performance was seen from Tänak in this recent race. He stayed locked in a heart racing battle for the top-spot throughout the weekend, not once did he drop lower than second overall in the standings – now that’s impressive!
Tänak took the rally lead from the get-go, his commitment was never questioned despite him still having to learn the ways of his new car in what were first tricky stages, and particularly rough on the second pass.
The second day of the race would see the pairing chasing a 2.6 second deficit to Breen, the team would watch in anticipation while updated times came in throughout the day. Tänak put on an almighty charge throughout the day, being nearly 14 seconds quicker than Breen, his otherwise perfect run was hampered by a puncture towards the end of the stage. Despite the issues they were faced with, his raw speed was still enough to see him take the lead at the end of the second day of rallying.
The last day of racing was the best for the team, as Tänak was seen to extend his lead to a secure 11.6 seconds, this allowed him to hold the top spot going into the Power Stage and in the end, see him bring home the big win for the M-Sport team.
The team will take home it’s victorious silverware to Dovenby Hall, alongside the memories of a heart pumping, action-filled weekend, and now they will focus fully on the challenges of the next round being hosted in Mexico.
A few words from the champion man himself:
“It’s quite impressive, not so bad at all. When we came into the rally, we didn’t really know what to expect. In the build up to the rally we understood that we were never going to be the fastest, but we’re happy to have kept our average pace pretty high and alongside the other guys.
“As a team, we made sure we didn’t have any bad stages and didn’t lose any time anywhere; that was the key. Sweden is unique, we only rally here once a year. It’s the same for Mexico and opening the road there can’t be a big advantage! It’s a great start to the championship, probably more than we expected. For sure we can improve a lot, and the plan is to pick up the pace.”
We congratulate the team and wish them all well for the competitions coming up in the future!
This is yet another achievement for the award-winning Ford Puma. Adding to the long list of previous awards: the 2020 Scottish Car of the Year award, Autotrader's Best Car for New Drivers in the UK list, countless car of the year awards from the likes of WhatCar?, Parkers and others, as well as winning Parkers' 2023 Small Family Car of the Year for the third consecutive year – just to name a few!
Picture yourself behind the wheel of the Puma, too? Click below to explore the range of Pumas we’ve got in stock now, ready for immediate delivery (Sorry, no M-Sports in stock).
