The Ford squad has been absent from the WRC podium since Ott Tanak finished second in Croatia back in April, a result which was then followed by the Estonian finishing fourth in Portugal before an electrical fault robbed him of a top 10 result in Sardinia.
Last weekend, Tanak led the Safari Rally heading into Friday, but his hopes of a podium were dashed when a tyre came off the rim during stage four, costing M-Sport driver more than two minutes. Tanak was forced to change his wheel again later in the rally when his wheel broke again.
Tanak ultimately finished the rally 9m14.4s adrift in sixth. Team-mate Pierre-Louis Loubet also had to make two wheel changes and battled an early engine mishap, resulting in the Frenchman coming home seventh, more than 16 minutes behind the winning Toyota of Sebastien Ogier.
Tanak did however prove the Puma’s speed by winning the powerstage following the disqualification of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. Tanak heads to next month’s home round in Estonia 42 points behind championship leader Kalle Rovanpera.
“We are not concerned. Again we have shown the pace of the car on the powerstage and I can tell you those Toyota drivers were trying and they were all carrying an issue,” Millener told Autosport.
“We often get a hard time about reliability but if you look all four of those Toyotas had the same problem. I think the speed the drivers are driving at and the conditions we are going through are tricky.
“I don’t think we are in a position that we need to be massively concerned about, okay Ott is still not 100% comfortable, but I think when you drop two minutes [to a puncture] and you are missing that battle with someone it is never the same. Anyone that is competing knows that if you are not fighting you have the pace but you don’t have the adrenaline rush to push that little bit harder.
Source: Autosport