Estonia (WRC) - 14-17 Jul 22

ESTONIA SEES PENULTIMATE ROUND OF 2022 JUNIOR WRC CHAMPIONSHIP

Posted: July 13, 2022 11:38 AM

The 2022 FIA Junior WRC Championship is set to compete on the flat-out and unforgiving stages of Rally Estonia with a thrilling championship fight on its hands.

Rally Estonia made its debut on the Junior WRC calendar in 2020 and the championship is returning to the fan-favourite event for a third year in a row.

The Estonian stages have proven a huge hit with crews, teams and fans with an electric atmosphere and breath-taking demonstrations of talent and skill by the crews. It is the home event for Robert Virves who made his explosive debut in the championship in 2020 leading for ten stages and eventually finished third. It is also a venue filled with fond memories for 2021 champion, Sami Pajari, who claimed his maiden Junior WRC victory in Estonia in 2021.

So far in 2022, Junior WRC has seen three different winners in as many rounds with some incredible performances throughout. Heading to Estonia, the championship is searching for a fourth a different winner, with Robert Virves a firm favourite after finding his form in Fiesta Rally3 machinery this year. Virves will start the event with a new co-driver, Julia Thulin, and will adopt English-language pace notes. All but one of this year’s Junior WRC crews head to Estonia with prior knowledge of the event as McRae Kimathi, fresh from a WRC3 podium on Safari Rally Kenya, will take to Estonian roads for the first time in his career.

For Rally Estonia crews have to choose from 22 Pirelli Scorpion K6 (soft) tyres and 6 Pirelli Scorpion K4 (hard tyres) with a maximum allocation of 22 tyres to be used on the rally including shakedown. Estonia has a wide variety of surfaces that will each favour one tyre compound over the other while stage length and conditions will also play a role in each crew’s tyre decision. Loop mileage combined with weather conditions will be the bigger influencer of tyre choice, with the longest loop of the rally coming on Friday at almost 70km. Friday’s stages will see the two longest stages of the rally as well, with Peipisääre (24.35km) and Mustvee (17.09km) running back-to-back. While most crews will converge on a similar tyre strategy, expect one or two crews to roll the dice and try something different in a bid to gain additional Wolf Stage Win Points.

In the championship, Jon Armstrong leads the way with 67 points over Lauri Joona in second but just one point behind. Reigning champion Pajari is third but only 11 points down. Rally Estonia presents the last opportunity for this year’s crews to post a regular classification points score with double points on offer for the final round of the season. Because crews will drop their worst classification score at the end of the season, the pressure is on the likes of Pajari and Virves for Rally Estonia: with Pajari having a no-score to his name in Croatia and Virves only managing eight points on Rally Sweden.

Maciej Woda, FIA Junior WRC Championship Manager, said:
“Rally Estonia is always an entertaining event for Junior WRC which everybody is always excited about, the organisers here know how to put on a show. This rally has a really good variety of challenges from high-speed fast gravel to soft and rough sandy sections that you need to pay particular attention too. The jumps here in Estonia are also spectacular, but just like every jump, the best airtime doesn’t necessarily mean the fastest car. Rally Estonia presents this year’s crews the best opportunity to earn Wolf Stage Win Points as the rally is made up of 24 stages – that is close to the same amount of points for an event win!

“Like every round so far, it is totally wide open, we have three drivers who have already proved they can win this year, while another three have shown they have what it takes to get on the podium in the WRC3 category. We will see a variety of strategies play out here in Estonia, for both Wolf Stage Win Points and an overall result, let’s see what happens!”

#41 Jon Armstrong / Brian Hoy
“It’s a good rally, very fast high-speed roads and a big challenge to get it right. You need a lot of commitment to be at the top of the leaderboard here in Estonia but also careful not to push too hard. Last year I felt quite good, but this year it’s hard to know how it’s going to go, I think until I get to shakedown and onto the first stage I don’t really know where the pace is going to be at. We will try our best and hope we will at least get a podium.”

#43 Lauri Joona / Mikael Korhonen
“Estonian roads look good and there are many big jumps which is something I enjoy. I think it’s win or lose in this rally in terms of pace, you have to be pushing for stage win points and drive as fast as you can.”

#45 Sami Pajari / Enni Malkonen
“I am looking forward to the weekend, there has been a bit of a break from the past rallies for me so it’s nice to get back. I think Estonia is one of the nicest rallies of the season, it’s fast and flowing stages with lots of jumps which gives a nice feeling. It’s not exactly what I am used to in Finland, but it is a really enjoyable rally. I have mixed feelings for my approach, the championship will only be clear once we are going to Greece, we need to get some points. It’s good if you can win but at the moment, I don’t have a plan or what to aim for. I will try to go at the speed I am comfortable with and then we will see.”

#46 Robert Virves / Julia Thulin
“I am looking forward to a good result here in Estonia, it is a place where you cannot be too slow, everybody is going to be really fast. It is definitely not the easiest job to be fast on this rally, we will have to see how we will manage it. We will try to be flat out as it would be great to win on my home event. I am now using English pace notes, I first used them on Rally Poland with a new co-driver and it went well so hopefully we can continue like this on my home rally.”

#47 William Creighton / Liam Regan
“Hopefully we’ll not see too much water during the rally, the aim for the rally is to try and finished as high up the leader board as we can. We struggled a bit with the pace here last year but we are going into the weekend relaxed, trying to enjoy it and see what we can do.”

#49 McRae Kimathi / Mwangi Kioni
“It’s going to be a difficult rally, very fast I know so it will be fun! My approach for the rally will be quite simply to finish the event without any major accidents and to build as much experience as I can. The roads here are pretty fast so the major challenge for me will be to learn what is needed to be competitive on them.”

M-SPORT CREWS READY TO EXCEL IN ESTONIA

Posted: July 13, 2022 11:37 AM

After a gruelling event in Kenya last month, the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team prepares to launch back into action on Rally Estonia this week with a four-strong line-up of Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1s.

M-Sport will take to Rally Estonia’s famously fast stages, starting with a Thursday evening opening super special based on the doorstep of the city of Tartu.

The more traditional action kicks off on Friday as the crews take to the forest to tackle Estonia’s fast gravel, littered with countless jumps and crests.

All four Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 crews heading to Estonia competed on the event last year, so their experience will be reinforced with confidence thanks to a comprehensive pre-event test held in the surrounding areas earlier this week.

M-Sport Ford front-runner, Craig Breen, returns to Rally Estonia with two podium finishes in as many years on the event. The Irishman boasts significant road knowledge, having competed on Rally Estonia four times prior to the event joining WRC, putting him in good stead ahead of the rally.

Pierre-Louis Loubet returns to M-Sport for his fourth WRC outing in a Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, bolstered by his outstanding performance in Sardinia where he finished fourth after a weekend-long battle for the podium.

Gus Greensmith has previously competed on the event twice, and with proven pace on fast gravel his intention will be to shake off recent misfortunes. Greensmith started last year’s event well, running fifth overall during the opening stages and so his aim will be to repeat this, giving him a good foundation on which to build throughout the rally.

His first time on the event in top-level WRC machinery, Adrien Fourmaux will take encouragement from his recent stage winning pace and power stage points finish in Kenya to tackle the Estonian gravel. His WRC2 performances in previous years have been strong, claiming a podium result in 2020, and his knowledge of the stages will aid his transition to the higher speeds promised by the Hybrid Rally1 category.

Jari Huttunen makes a return to the Fiesta Rally2 to compete in the WRC2 category following stage winning pace and a podium finish in Sardinia. Huttunen’s appearance in Estonia will be ahead of his recently announced participation in a Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 on Rally Finland in August.

Rally Estonia marks the fourth and penultimate round of the FIA Junior WRC Championship, which will see six M-Sport Poland-built Fiesta Rally3 cars take to the stages to battle it out on what is proving to be an incredibly close championship, with only 11 points between the podium positions heading into Estonia.

Rich Millener, Team Principal, said:
“Kenya was a tough event, we showed some great speed but unfortunately didn’t get the results we were all hoping for. We now move to an almost opposite rally, a very fast and flowing event with big jumps. All crews have had a very good test in the lead up to the event in order to get their heads back in gear for such high speed stages.

“I have had a lot of positive feedback about the car from the test, so I am hopeful we will perform well over the weekend. Estonia is also a great event with lots of very knowledgeable and passionate fans so it will also be great to see their reception to these exciting new Rally1 cars.”

Craig Breen, said:
“Obviously really looking forward to Estonia, it’s a rally that has served us well in the past, we’ve been on the podium now a good couple of times, and the last two years as part of the world championship we managed to bring home two podiums there as well. Honestly, I can’t wait for it, it’s a run of three rallies now that I’m very familiar and comfortable with. They are the complete opposite of the last couple of rallies of the season so far! I don’t feel alien heading to Estonia, I know what it’s all about.

"We had a really good test last week, the car felt great and I was really comfortable from the beginning, so I’m looking forward to it. The stages look great, obviously with high speeds, big jumps and big crests.”

Gus Greensmith, said:
“Really looking forward to Rally Estonia, last year we already had a good package, and things were going very well before some problems, so we showed that we can certainly set up the car in a way that works.

“From the test, I probably haven’t been this comfortable in the car since Monaco, so really looking forward to this one for sure. Super fast rallies mean very close times and putting everything together is a big job here, so we’ll do our best.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet, said:
“I’m very happy to be going to Estonia, it’s always amazing to drive this type of car on such a fast rally. From our side it will be very important to continue our progression after Portugal and Sardinia, to stay calm and not try to do too much because on a rally like this it is very easy to make a mistake, like always, but you can’t make any mistakes at these high speeds.

“For us it will be important to keep continuing our progress and be very focused on our side and to build maximum confidence in the car. After Estonia we also have Finland, so these are two very important rallies in the season for me.”

Adrien Fourmaux, said:
“Estonia will be completely different to the previous rallies, it will be a really fast rally. It will be my first time with top category car on this event, but it’ll be my fourth participation in total, so I have a good knowledge of most of the stages.

“It will be nice to drive on these fast roads with all the big jumps, it’s always a good experience and a good feeling, so we can look forward to that. We had a good day of testing before the rally, and we’ll use that to do our best to achieve a good result for the team.”

Jari Huttunen, WRC2, said:
“Sardinia was a good event for us, and I am feeling very happy in the car. Estonia is a big challenge with the high-speeds, but we are looking forward to it. We started well last year, and I’ve learnt a lot from the events this season so far, so I think it’ll be good. The focus will be on not making any mistakes and keeping in tune with the car and hopefully we will get a good result for the team.”

RALLY ESTONIA: Preview - TOYOTA GAZOO Racing reaches for top gear at the halfway stage

Posted: July 8, 2022 1:18 PM

The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team arrives at the midway point of the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship season at Rally Estonia (July 14-17): the first of two back-to-back events on fast gravel roads in the north of Europe.

Estonia was the scene of Kalle Rovanperä’s maiden WRC victory one year ago. Since then, the young Finn has taken five further victories, including four in the last five events to build a lead of 65 points in the drivers’ championship.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing heads the manufacturers’ standings by 62 points after a historic 1-2-3-4 finish on last month’s Safari Rally Kenya led by Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans and TGR WRT Next Generation driver Takamoto Katsuta. Esapekka Lappi will return to the TGR WRT line-up in Estonia alongside Rovanperä and Evans for his fourth start of the season.

Rally Estonia offers a very different challenge to the three previous rounds on gravel, with smooth and fast roads featuring many jumps and crests, although the soft and sandy surface can become rutted for the second pass of each stage.

The rally is based in Tartu, Estonia’s second largest city, and begins on Thursday evening with a short super special next to the service park. Both Friday and Saturday feature a loop of four stages to be run twice either side of mid-day service. Another pass of the super special to round out Saturday’s action and an extended version around the Raadi airfield, run in the opposite direction to last year’s Power Stage, opens two loops of three stages on Sunday. The rally-ending Power Stage once more takes place over the Kambja test, as it did in 2020.

Quotes:

Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“The result in Kenya was incredible for us but we are now facing a very different challenge for the next two events in Estonia and Finland. Up until now we have been concentrating on reliability, and although we of course want to maintain this, for these smooth and fast rallies we also need to focus on extracting the maximum performance from the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID. It will be a challenge for the drivers as well, because coming from a rough event like the Safari Rally it’s easy to drive too comfortably, and you need to attack from the start of the first stage or you can lose a lot of time. To do this they have to have confidence in the car and their feedback from our pre-event testing has been positive, so we’re looking forward to Estonia and aiming for another strong result.”

Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“I’m looking forward to these next two rallies on fast gravel roads, which will be quite different to what we’ve experienced during the last few events. Estonia will be the first really fast gravel rally that we’ve done with these cars, so the testing has been really important to try and prepare for that. I enjoy the high-speed stages we have in Estonia but it always helps a lot if you feel good in the car, so the target is to have a car that works well in all conditions and then hopefully secure a strong result at the end of the weekend.”

Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Halttunen
Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“Of course it’s going to be nice for me to go back to Rally Estonia. Winning there last year was a great moment and it was a really strong weekend for us. This year we are in a different situation leading the champioship and so we will be opening the road, but hopefully we can do another good result there. I always enjoy rallies like this one with fast and flowing roads, they suit me pretty well. It’s really important to feel confident in the car when driving at those speeds, so we have done a lot of work in testing to try and get the setup how we want it.”

Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm
Esapekka Lappi (Driver car 4)
“I’m really looking forward to being in the car for these next two events, and especially my home rally in Finland of course. Estonia will not be so easy as I didn’t do the rally last year, so there are some stages that will be new for me. I believe I can do well there, but I’m not going into it with any big expectations. So far this year we have had good pace on every surface but I haven’t always been able to put it together. Therefore the main goal for Estonia is just to have a good, clean rally.”

Hyundai Motorsport Preview: Round 7 – Rally Estonia

Posted: July 8, 2022 1:18 PM

Hyundai Motorsport heads to Rally Estonia, round seven of the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), determined to put the disappointment of Safari Rally Kenya in the rear-view mirror and produce a strong performance.

Despite feeling the effects of the gruelling and unforgiving African rally, the Alzenau-based team remains confident in its ability to compete for the top step in Estonia having taken victory on the gravel at Rally Italia Sardegna.

A favourite of works teams, Rally Estonia made its highly anticipated WRC debut during the pandemic-disrupted 2020 season. Home heroes Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led an emphatic 1-2 finish for Hyundai Motorsport on that occasion, the pair’s first win for the team. Another double podium in 2021 continued the team’s impressive form at the Baltic event.

The 2022 edition of Rally Estonia will be demanding as ever, boasting high-speed gravel roads and a variety of difficult jumps to negotiate. The surface is also known to become rutted, particularly on the second pass, providing an additional challenge for the competitors to contend with. However, all three crews behind the wheel of the hybrid-powered Hyundai i20 N Rally1 are familiar with the conditions that await them in Estonia, and will therefore be hoping to use this previous knowledge to their advantage.

The Hyundai Motorsport line-up consists of local favourites and 2020 Rally Estonia winners Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja, Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe, who finished on the podium at the event in 2021, and Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson. While it will be the young duo’s first time competing at Rally Estonia in WRC, Solberg has won twice at the event in other categories.

The event itinerary at Rally Estonia is split across four days, containing 24 stages that total a distance of 313.84km.

Deputy Team Director Julien Moncet said: “Although we have only competed there twice, Rally Estonia is an event at which we have very good memories. In particular it was the site of Ott and Martijn’s first victory for Hyundai Motorsport, one of four podium finishes we have achieved in Estonia since 2020. Our hope is that we can continue this form this year and bounce back from the tough weekend we experienced in Kenya. All season long the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 has shown lots of speed on the gravel, and we expect next weekend to be no different. The goal as always is to battle for victory and score as many points for the championship as possible. Even though the gap to the top of the standings is quite large, we will never give up.”

Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)?
Belgians remain second in the standings after six rounds
Crew claimed podium finish at Rally Estonia last season

Neuville said:?“Rally Estonia is one of the fastest events on the calendar, and also the home event of Ott, so it is a rally where we always want to be strong and get good results. Personally, it is a rally I enjoy. The first season there was a bit difficult, but once you get to know the roads you start to like it more. This is because the speeds are very high, so it helps to know the conditions and the terrain. It’s very similar in terms of setup to Rally Finland, as both have fast roads that are generally flat. In Estonia the surface is a bit softer than Finland so it gets more rutted on the second pass, and the jumps are actually bigger and faster too. I was able to finish on the podium there in 2021 so hopefully I can do the same again this year.” ?

Crew Notes: Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (#8 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)?
Home event for Estonian duo
Pair took victory at Rally Estonia in 2020

Tänak?said:?“Rally Estonia is always a great event. For the first time this year we will be going to smoother, faster roads, so I am expecting it to be fun, but we also need to make sure we extract all the performance and speed we can from the car. It will be a big challenge and we will have to be fast out of the box right from the beginning. The best part for me is that I have no travel days! It’s also great to have a rally at home because we get to have the amazing fans and those close to us around us. But there is no extra pressure, we just want to score as many points as possible. We will try our best and do everything we can to finish in the top positions.” ?

Crew Notes: Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (#2 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)?
Crew targeting first podium in WRC
Solberg has won at Rally Estonia in WRC3

Solberg said:?“Rally Estonia is the event I have been looking forward to most all year. It is one I have done many times before and I have been able to win there twice. Hopefully I will be able to fight for the podium, that is my personal goal for next weekend. It is a very tricky event with a lot of jumps. It’s also very fast and it is the first time I’ve competed there in these WRC cars, so it will be a different challenge. I’ve have driven in Estonia so much it feels almost like my second country, so I feel very comfortable on the roads. In the second loop the roads can get very rutted, so you need a car that is easy to drive and has good traction. But the main thing you need is to just keep your right foot flat down!”

WRC2 Overview
Teemu Suninen and Fabrizio Zaldivar will both be looking to achieve a positive result at Rally Estonia in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2, after both drivers encountered issues last time out at Rally Italia Sardegna.

Alongside his co-driver Mikko Markkula, Suninen will be hoping to turn the promising pace he has shown throughout the season so far into a strong result. Despite winning 14 stages in the WRC2 category across the first two events of the year, the Finnish duo are yet to stand on the podium in 2022. The pair will be aiming to change this trend in Estonia.

Zaldivar will embark on a new partnership at the rally, as he is joined by co-driver Marcelo Der Ohannesian. The Paraguayan/Argentinian crew will be hoping to get up to speed quickly and be competitive across the four days of action on the Estonian roads.

Suninen said: “Rally Estonia has been always a great challenge with a mixture of technical, narrow roads and super-fast wide roads. However I have always liked the rally as it is similar to my home rally in Finland. Normally conditions change quite a lot from first loop to second loop when big ruts start appearing, so you have to adapt your driving to that. We had a good pre-event test and I am starting to feel happier with car; I have a better understanding of how to get a more balanced setup for fast gravel rallies. I am looking forward to bring good points home for me and team.”

Zaldivar said: “Rally Estonia is a very interesting event. The roads are incredibly fast and very technical at the same time, so much so that sometimes you think you are going fast and then that is not reflected in the final time. A few weeks ago we did an excellent test here, together with Teemu and Ott. The truth is that I learned a lot from their experience, especially when they were driving the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 on these kind of roads. I am confident that we will put everything into practice which will allow us to continue learning and scoring points for the team.”

Deputy Team Director Julien Moncet said: “The results our two WRC2 crews have produced this season have not reflected the pace they have shown in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 at both Rally de Portugal and Rally Italia Sardegna. Based on their performance in Portugal, where they won 12 stages on the gravel, we hope that Teemu and Mikko can be quick on a similar terrain and fight for victory in Estonia. For Fabrizio, the goal will be to get comfortable with his new co-driver Marcelo. Every stage will be valuable for them both as they work together to find their limit in the car. Our aim is to have a clean and competitive weekend and get our first WRC2 podium of the year.”

Weekend at a Glance
A Super Special Stage – Tartu (1.66km) – on Thursday evening kicks off the action at Rally Estonia
Friday is the longest day of the event, with two passes each of Peipsia?a?re (24.35km), Mustvee (17.09km), Raanitsa (21.45km) and Vastsemo?isa (6.70km) totalling 139.18km Saturday’s running consists of two loops of four new stages, followed by another pass of the Tartu super special stage
The event concludes on Sunday with a final six stages, as the crews twice take on Tartu Vald (6.56km), Kanepi (16.48km) and Kambja (15.95km).

Entry List

Posted: July 8, 2022 1:17 PM

Estonia (WRC) - 14-17 Jul 22 - ENTRY LIST

Rally Guide / Details / Event Website

Posted: May 31, 2022 2:53 PM

Rally Estonia