Tänak relives lake plunge 07 | 03 | 2015
WORLD RALLY DRIVER Ott Tänak has spoken of the chilling seconds when his car plunged into a lake and sank at Rally Guanajuato Mexico (See more photographs of Ott Tanak's lake escape).
The Estonian and co-driver Raigo Mõlder escaped unhurt, but shocked, after wriggling out of their Ford Fiesta RS seconds before it disappeared beneath the surface.
“If you are in a lake, close to the limit of your life and fighting for it, when you finally win that fight it’s an amazing feeling,” 27-year-old Tänak admitted afterwards.
The M-Sport World Rally Team car rolled down a bank and into the water, coming to rest on the surface and the right way up. In less than 10 seconds Tänak and Mõlder were out of the car, which disappeared to the bottom of the lake in just 25 seconds.
“I opened the seat belts and immediately after opening the door the car filled with water,” he explained. “Then it went down in a short time.
“It was a bit scary when I got out the car. The intercom wire was still fixed and it was difficult to unplug, so it was dragging me under the water. That was a **** feeling, but luckily I had enough force to unplug it. A few seconds later the car was gone."
Tänak admits he didn’t have time to think about what was happening as he battled to escape.
“I didn’t care how hard it was, I just had to get out. It was really on the limit. We were alone. There were spectators but they were far too far away and couldn’t help.
“When we started to swim to the edge, we had to swim 5-6 metres. It was quite a bit of work with helmets on. I’m not sure if I’m a good swimmer, but I survived so I’m good enough.
Tänak blamed himself for the accident after braking as the Fiesta RS hit a compression in the gravel road.
“It was a downhill braking in the compression and something broke in the front right. The wheel was turning out and it dragged us to the edge of the road," he explained.
“When I saw the water and we rolled, I told Raigo we had to move fast but that was all. I shouted that to him just before we went into the water."
Divers have been sent to the scene to locate the car but the water is so deep and dirty they have not yet found it. If the car is retrieved in time and runs properly, then the Estonians are keen to restart tomorrow under Rally 2 rules.
Sébastien Ogier was the shock leader at the end of the opening leg after an action-packed day sidelined half the drivers from the headline World Rally Car category.
The reigning world champ overcame the handicap of opening the roads with an inspired tyre choice for his Volkswagen Polo R to claim the advantage. He protected his lead in the afternoon to end 13.5sec ahead of team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.
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Ogier expected to lose time this morning as he swept the gravel roads of slippery stones. But in unusually low temperatures of 7˚C in the mountains near Guanajuato, his decision to fit two soft compound tyres paid dividends.
He smashed his rivals in the 44km El Chocolate stage and held off Thierry Neuville until the salvation of more equal conditions during the afternoon’s repeated tests.
“It was a really great day. I made a clever tyre choice, one of the best we’ve done. It was hard and I had to push from the first metre to the end. That’s always my target but I’m very pleased with this one,” he said.
A further boost came with the high number of retirements. With most likely to return tomorrow under Rally 2 rules at the head of the start order, he will not have to sweep the roads.
Neuville’s challenge ended in the second pass through El Chocolate when he punctured and then rolled after hitting a bank, damaging his Hyundai i20’s radiator.
That promoted Latvala into second. The Finn struggled for confidence this morning, but a mid-leg pep talk from his engineer revitalised him and he won two stages this afternoon.
An early spin caused by gear selection issues left Mads Østberg in ninth. But he charged up the order in Citroen’s DS3 and was 16.0sec behind Latvala in third.
Andreas Mikkelsen battled with Elfyn Evans all day. The Welshman had the best of the morning on roads Mikkelsen had not driven before, but the Norwegian consolidated fourth this afternoon and was 18.7sec ahead in his Polo R.
Dani Sordo was sixth in an i20, the Spaniard overcoming daylong gearbox issues and a puncture to head Martin Prokop’s Fiesta RS, who encountered a cow in the road and survived a lurid incident after a pace note issue. WRC 2 drivers Yurii Protasov, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Nicolas Fuchs completed the top 10.
Hayden Paddon broke his i20’s right rear suspension after hitting a rock, Kris Meeke snapped his DS 3’s track control arm after swiping a bank and Robert Kubica punctured a tyre and damaged his steering after doing likewise. The steering later broke and he rolled.
Lorenzo Bertelli went off and Benito Guerra broke the rear right suspension on his Fiesta RS.
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Jim McGill