Tänak unsure about German pace

Ott Tänak admits his speed at next week’s ADAC Rallye Deutschland (20 - 23 August) will be an unknown quantity as he drives a World Rally Car on pure asphalt for the first time in almost three years.

The winter roads of January’s Rallye Monte-Carlo aside, the Estonian’s last taste of true sealed surface action came in Spain at the end of the 2012 season in the final outing of his first spell with M-Sport.

As he prepares for the first day of his Deutschland test tomorrow (Wednesday), Tänak is unsure what to expect in terms of performance when the ninth round of the FIA World Rally Championship blasts into life at the end of next week.

“It’s quite hard to say,” he told wrc.com. “My last proper asphalt rally in a World Rally Car was at the end of 2012, so I really can’t remember that much about driving one on those roads. I’m really interested to go to Germany and see the stage times on the first day.”

The rally marks the asphalt debut of the new-specification Ford Fiesta RS. Both Tänak and team-mate Elfyn Evans have tested it in the mountains above Sanremo in Italy, but this week’s test is the first chance for either to sample the car in Germany.

Tänak is no slouch on either asphalt or German roads. In 2011 he drove a Fiesta S2000 to victory in the SWRC category in Germany and France en route to second in the championship, and last year he finished second in WRC 2 at ADAC Rallye Deutschland.