MOTORSPORT: 'TiTanak' rises and races

It’s being called the 'TiTanak' episode in world rallying.

And, unlike the passenger ship Titanic that hit an iceberg and sank in the North Sea more than a century ago, the Ford Fiesta RS WRC driven by Estonian Ott Tanak that ran down a bank into a reservoir and sank in five metres of water during Rally Mexico was raised, repaired and finished the event.

Tanak and co-driver Raigo Molder scrambled out of the Fiesta in the water and swam to shore in their driving suits and helmets.

The car was winched from the reservoir after 10 hours under water and 2½ hours after it was returned to the service park its engine was firing.

While it missed Saturday’s leg of the rally it completed Sunday’s final three gravel stages – one of them 55km – and even collected a manufacturer point for M-Sport’s championship campaign.

The team had christened the car TiTanak with a sticker and Tanak and Molder wore goggles and a snorkel at the end of the rally.

The car’s bonnet will be signed by everyone who worked on the repairs and it will then be displayed in pride of place at M-Sport’s British headquarters.

“The team has done a fantastic job … something unreal,” Tanak said.

“It’s such a great feeling to have been able to carry on. It was so important for me and Raigo to do that.

“It’s a real boost for a driver to know that you have people like that behind you all of the time, 100 per cent.

“I am still amazed at what they managed to do. It was mega, fantastic, just incredible,” Tanak said.

VW’s French world champions Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia comfortably notched their third WRC win of the year in as many events, ahead of Norwegians Mads Ostberg in a Citroen and Andreas Mikkelsen in another VW.

The German manufacturer’s Finn, Jari-Matti Latvala, ended Saturday's stage 12 on three wheels but resumed on Sunday and gained six manufacturer points.

Ogier leads the drivers’ championship with 81 points to Mikkelsen’s 47.

It was Ogier and Ingrassia’s 27th WRC victory and the 25th for VW’s Polo R in 29 events.

Ogier has overtaken Spanish legend Carlos Sainz’s 26 wins, with only French nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb on 70 wins and Finn Marcus Gronholm’s on 30 ahead of him.

Welshman Elfyn Evans was fourth in Mexico, his best WRC finish, in an M-Sport Ford, and Spaniard Dani Sordo fifth for Hyundai.

The entire rally was held more than 1800 metres above sea level and went as high as
2752 metres.

New Zealanders Hayden Paddon and John Kennard wound up 17th in a factory Hyundai i20.

Citroens on top in World Touring Car Championship
Citroens dominated the opening round of the World Touring Car Championship.

Argentina’s defending champion Jose Maria Lopez won the first race in his homeland ahead of French teammates Yvan Muller and Sebastien Loeb.

The second race had a reverse grid and Loeb came from eighth to win, ahead of Lopez – who leads the nine-time world rally champion 48 points to 43 in the championship.

Harvick the man to beat again in NASCAR
NASCAR’s reigning Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick won the third round of this year’s championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Harvick’s victory in a Stewart-Haas Chevrolet was his sixth straight top-two finish in Cup racing and he led three times as many laps as any other driver in finishing ahead of three fellow Chevy drivers – Martin Truex Junior, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Junior.

Harvick leads Earnhardt 134 points to 125 with Roger Penske’s Daytona 500 winner Joey Lagano third on 123 in a Ford. Truex has 118 points and A.J. Allmendinger – in strife after a positive drug test a couple of years ago, released by Penske and now driving a Chev for JTG Daugherty – is fifth on 100.