FIA investigates WRC Latvia accident, Tanak apologizes

The FIA ​​​​is currently investigating a “potentially dangerous” incident in which Ott Tänak was held up by an inflatable advertising arch during the World Rally Championship’s visit to Latvia.

The WRC title contender collected a shattered advertising sheet that was lying on the road after Toyota’s Elfyn Evans had come into contact with the structure while righting himself after a wild spin moments earlier.

The stage was not red-flagged quickly enough to prevent Tanak’s i20 N from becoming entangled in the fallen structure. Officials eventually red-flagged the stage to clarify the incident and gave nominal times to Tanak, Adrien Fourmaux and Takamoto Katsuta, who were also affected.

When television crews spoke to Tanak at the end of the stage, the frustrated rider took aim at the race control, saying: “I think that describes exactly how we are in safe hands with the race control. They were probably just eating well and drinking good wine when you could see on the cameras that the road was closed and a car was coming. Well done race control, you really look after us.”

“We’re fine, but damn, you could see the road was blocked and they’re keeping it going. Hopefully it was a good wine.”

Ott Tänak, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Hyundai team boss Cyril Abiteboul called for a transparent investigation into the incident to find out how it can be avoided in the future.

At the end of the rally, the FIA, Rally Latvia organisers and Hyundai released a joint statement confirming that a review was underway and that Tanak had apologised for his comments to rally organisers.

“Following the incident involving Car 8 (Tanak) on Special Stage 14, a thorough investigation is currently underway by the FIA. The driver, Ott Tanak and a team representative met on site with FIA representatives to discuss the situation, which all consider to be potentially dangerous,” the statement said.

“In discussing the situation, Tanak agreed that his comments after the stage were not in the best interests of the sport, but that they were made in the moments immediately following the incident. He apologised for his comments to rally management but welcomed the upcoming review.

“Hyundai Motorsport, the event organizer and the FIA ​​are working together to better understand the incident and work together to continuously improve safety systems in the sport, which is a key objective of the FIA.”