Good news from Jyvaskyla for Hyundai Motorsport. Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja are doing well.
The Estonian crew, who are also competing with the Alzenau team at the Rally Finland, were involved in an accident this morning during Special Stage 3, the 15.93-kilometre Saarikas 1.
During a fairly fast left-hand bend, the i20 N Rally1 number 8 went sideways, first with its rear wheels and then with the entire body due to inertia. Once off the road, the Korean car began to roll over, concluding its evolution against a tree that was located a few dozen centimetres from the test road.
Both Ott Tanak and navigator Martin Jarveoja let the team know that they were fine, but requested the intervention of the paramedics who promptly arrived at the scene of the accident once the marshals blocked the special stage.
Both were taken to the medical center for the first routine tests. Ott Tanak did not suffer any trauma, while Martin Jarveoja will have to spend the entire day and night under observation at the hospital as a precaution.
This, but also the conditions of the Korean car after the accident, will force Tanak and Jarveoja to definitively retire from Rally Finland. A hard blow for their title hopes just when they had managed to climb up to second place by overtaking Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, but also to get closer to the leaders, teammates Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe.
Hyundai Motorsport confirmed the conditions of the 2019 world champion crew with a short statement: “After their accident on Special Stage 3 of Rally Finland, Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja are doing well. However, Martin will remain in hospital tonight under observation. The crew will not restart tomorrow’s Rally Finland.”
For Tanak and Jarveoja, this is the second major incident in a few weeks. The first occurred just under a month ago, on July 6, while the Hyundai crew was racing at Rally Estonia – this year’s European Rally Championship event – to prepare for the Rallies of Latvia and Finland.
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