The FIA stewards handed time penalty along with suspended points cut to Ott Tanak after incident in WRC Rally Finland, with a scrutineer.
Hyundai Motorsport driver Ott Tanak has been handed a five-minute time penalty following an incident with a scrutineer during Friday’s proceedings at Secto Rally Finland. The penalty stems from an incident that occurred after the Stop Control of SS7 (Saarikas 2) on Friday, 1 August.
According to the stewards’ report, Tanak’s car arrived at tyre checking and stopped at the direction of a scrutineer. While tyre scanning was nearing completion and before receiving the signal to leave, Tanak accelerated abruptly, striking a scrutineer with the front right bumper. The official sustained minor injuries, including bloody scratches to the left knee.
The stewards found Tanak to be in breach of Articles 12.2.1.h, 12.2.1.i and 12.2.1.l of the 2025 FIA International Sporting Code, relating to unsafe conduct, failure to follow scrutineer instructions, and misconduct. In addition to the five-minute time penalty – which drops Tanak from 10th to 29th overall – the stewards also imposed a suspended penalty involving the withdrawal of 35 championship points from Tanak, his co-driver Martin Jarveoja, and their Hyundai team.
During a hearing held on Friday evening, Tanak explained that his car was suffering from cooling problems following an earlier incident and that he had been requested to keep the car moving to avoid overheating. He apologised to the stewards and stated he was unaware the scrutineer had been injured.
“Mr. Tanak stated that they had an accident during SS7 and the car was suffering from cooling problems. The team had requested the crew to keep the car moving to avoid the overheating,” the stewards report stated.
“Mr. Tanak tried to explain the problem to the scrutineer by using hand gestures as it was difficult to communicate. When he thought the checks were finished, he immediately moved from his position without realising that he had hit the scrutineer.
“The driver apologised to the Stewards and stated that he was not aware that the scrutineer had been injured. He stated that had he known that he had hit the scrutineer, he would have stopped immediately. Mr. Tanak also offered to apologise personally to the injured official.”
Here: https://t.co/Notk4KxXYK
[The story is as per press release]
