Tänak was born in Kärla, Saare County, Estonia. He won the Estonian Rally Championship in 2008 and 2009, driving for the team run by former world rally winner Markko Märtin. He made his World Rally Championship debut on the 2009 Rally de Portugal, finishing 20th overall. In September 2009 he won the European Pirelli Star Driver shootout held in Austria, earning him six rounds of the 2010 WRC season in the PWRC support category. He won the PWRC category on the 2010 Rally Finland and 2010 Rally GB.
In 2011, Tänak drove seven rallies with a Ford Fiesta S2000 prepared by MM-Motorsport under Markko Märtin's instructions and signed a five-year contract with Ford. He scored his first WRC points in the 2011 Rally Mexico and achieved his first class win in Italy. He came second in SWRC but lost the title to Juho Hänninen after hitting a rock in Spain that broke the Fiesta S2000's front crossmember, forcing him to restart under SuperRally rules.
In 2012, Tänak was the number one driver for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, driving the full season with a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. He scored his first podium in Italy, finishing third behind winner Mikko Hirvonen and Evgeny Novikov, and finished the season eighth overall, winning eight stages.
After a year away from the WRC in 2013 — running Estonian national rallies under OT Racing — Tänak joined the DMACK World Rally Team in 2014, competing in WRC2. He returned to M-Sport Ford in 2015, with his best result a third place at the Rally Poland.
In 2017, Tänak returned to M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, pairing with four-time world champion Sébastien Ogier following Volkswagen's withdrawal. Tänak replaced co-driver Raigo Mõlder with Järveoja. At the Rally Italia Sardegna, Tänak inherited the lead after a mistake by Hayden Paddon and took his maiden WRC event win despite a final-day charge by Jari-Matti Latvala. He then won in Germany — the first time Ford or M-Sport had won there since the event joined the WRC calendar in 2002 — and finished the season third behind Ogier and Thierry Neuville.
Before the 2018 season, Tänak signed a two-year deal with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, run by four-time world champion Tommi Mäkinen. His teammates were Jari-Matti Latvala and Esapekka Lappi. Tänak won in Argentina and then took three consecutive victories in Finland, Germany and Turkey, placing him in contention for the title. Despite finishing fourth in the championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT won the constructors' championship for the first time since 1999.
In 2019, Tänak won in Sweden, Chile — ahead of Ogier and Sébastien Loeb — and four further rallies before securing the drivers' championship at the Rally Catalunya, following an early power steering failure by Ogier and a Power Stage victory by Tänak. He became the first Estonian to win the WRC title, the first non-Frenchman to do so since Petter Solberg in 2003, and the first Toyota driver to win since Didier Auriol in 1994.
In October 2019, Tänak signed a two-year deal with Hyundai. His 2020 title defence began with a crash at the Monte Carlo Rally in which his Hyundai i20 bottomed out on a bump in Stage 4 and left a 40-metre cliff at 180 km/h, rolling end-over-end through trees before landing on the road; both Tänak and Järveoja walked away uninjured.
In 2022, Tänak finished second in the championship with 205 points, behind runaway champion Kalle Rovanperä. He won the Rally Italia Sardegna despite reportedly having only three-wheel drive at one point due to transmission issues, and also won Rally Finland for a third time. A controversial moment arose at the Acropolis Rally when teammate Neuville, leading the rally ahead of Tänak, maintained his position and won rather than giving way, despite Tänak having a stronger championship position relative to Rovanperä.
For 2023, Tänak returned to M-Sport, driving the Ford Puma Rally1 car. He won in Sweden and scored an emotional second place in Croatia, where the rally took place in the shadow of Craig Breen's death during testing. His final victory with M-Sport came at Rally Chile. In October 2023, it was announced he would rejoin Hyundai for 2024.
In 2024, Tänak won the Central European Rally and was a contender for the title until a retirement on the final day of Rally Japan left the championship to Neuville.
In 2025, Hyundai faced a significant gap to Toyota in car development under new Hankook tyre regulations. After finding himself 52 points behind championship leader Elfyn Evans, Tänak mounted a charge, finishing second in Portugal and Sardegna behind Ogier despite technical problems. He won in Greece, though his car experienced a gearbox failure on the final stage, which he drove through to secure the victory. In Chile, an engine failure cost him heavily; Hyundai then changed his engine under a plan to avoid a time penalty, with Tänak removed from manufacturers' points scoring for the remainder of the season as a consequence. At the conclusion of the 2025 Rally Japan, Tänak announced his retirement from full-time rallying and the WRC.
Tänak married Janika Tänak in 2016; they have two children, a son named Ron and a daughter named Mia. In 2017 he was chosen for the Estonian Athlete of the Year award. In 2018 he and Järveoja were chosen for the Estonian Sports Team of the Year award. A documentary film, Ott Tänak: The Movie, was released theatrically in Estonia on 11 April 2019.
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