Motorsport: Tanak takes win in Germany

Ott Tanak during Day Two of the WRC Germany on August 19. Photo / Getty Images

Estonian Ott Tanak claimed his second career WRC win with victory at Rally Germany while Kiwi driver Hayden Paddon finished eighth.

M-Sport Ford's Tanak calmly navigated his way through the final day's four special stages to take a 16.4 second win over Citroen's Andreas Mikkelsen.

Tanak's teammate - four-time world champion Sebastien Ogier - was third and opened up a 17-point championship lead over Thierry Neuville, who failed to score any points on the German asphalt.

The win has given Tanak a chance at getting into the title fight as well - he is just 33 points off the lead.

"I don't see any reason why we should not be able to fight for it, so we will fight for it. We need to keep winning if we want to win the championship," said the 29-year-old.

"Everything was done on Friday with a perfect tyre choice and perfect run in tricky conditions. After this we controlled our lead and winning our first asphalt event feels good."

Kiwi Paddon was the best of the Hyundai drivers and was happy to bank some valuable championship points in what has been a difficult year. He suffered two separate punctures earlier in the event but set some top three stage times later in the rally.

Nice to finish Rally Germany - we wanted more as a team but when no problems, good to show progress from this event last year. @sebmarshall pic.twitter.com/1RQHIJlwsd

— Hayden Paddon (@HaydenPaddon) August 20, 2017

"When conditions were more consistent, we showed some improvement in performance compared to last year, so there are some positives to take away from this tough weekend," the 30-year-old said.

"I knew this would be one of the hardest rallies of the season, so I am pleased that we made it to the end, and showing better stage times.

"I am going back home to New Zealand for a month, during which I will also take part in a few gravel rallies, so I am looking forward to that.

"Then, it's back to Europe when we will begin our push for a good result to finish the season."

The next WRC event is in Spain in early October.

Final Standings
Ott Tanak (M-Sport Ford)
Andreas Mikkelsen (Citroen) +16.4s
Sebastien Ogier (M-Sport Ford) +30.4s
Juho Hanninen (Toyota) +1:49.2s
Craig Breen (Citroen) +2:01.5s
Elfyn Evans (DMACK Ford) +2:03.4s
Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) +3:58.2s
Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) +4:32.4s

Championship Standings
Sebastien Ogier 177
Thierry Neuville 160
Ott Tanak 144
Jari-Matti Latvala 123
Dani Sordo 89
Elfyn Evans 87
Craig Breen 64
Juho Hanninen 58
Hayden Paddon 55
Esapekka Lappi 49