Any time the words “rally crash” are printed, it’s time to tune in for some sincere carnage. It’s been my personal draw to rally racing, I can’t lie. I grew to appreciate the skill and absolute precision needed to do what these drivers do, but what set the hook for me so many years ago involved a Mitsubishi going end-over-end through the trees in a crash sequence that made every bone in my body cringe. Amateur racing or professional, there is no such thing as a gentle crash in the sport. Either you made it to the next services stop or you killed it. In the case of Hyundai driver Ott Tänak and his co-driver Martin Järveoja, they killed it at Rally Monte Carlo.
While tearing through Special Stage Four, which runs between St. Clement-sur-Durance and Freissinières in southeastern France, Tänak’s Hyundai i20 bounced coming out of a high-speed kink and after dropping off the edge of the roadway, went into a massive roll down the hill before slamming onto the asphalt below. The only thing that needs to be mentioned in the after crash report: both drivers exited the balled-up shell of a rally car under their own power, pretty much unharmed. Per Tänak’s social media, “We are recovering and will be fit soon.”
