Friendships, they say, can’t exist within an elite competition environment. How, for example, could Max Vertsappen remain good mates with Lando Norris when the two are fighting for grand prix wins, and even clashing at times on the track?
So far they’ve managed. So too are Robert Virves and Georg Linnamäe.
The spectacle the two Estonians provided last weekend as they traded the lead of their home round of the European Rally Championship was memorable in itself. For it to go down to the final stage in a fair fight was mega. But what really made it special was the obvious respect and admiration these two rivals had for one another.
“We would like to have won it,” Virves, who lost out by just 2.2 seconds, said at the end of the final stage, “but Linnamäe is the next one I’d want to win it.”
This is the story of Vives and Linnamäe’s extraordinary scrap for home glory, and the friendship that underpins it.
Linnamäe and Virves were almost inseparable throughout Rally Estonia – both on the leaderboard and in proximity
Their friendship
Although both hail from Estonia and are separated by just two years – even sharing a birthday – Virves and Linnamäe haven’t necessarily competed against each other all that often.
That being said, last weekend’s Rally Estonia was their second photo finish in as many weeks after Virves nicked the final step on the WRC2 podium from Linnamäe by a scant 0.6s at Rally Poland.
But while Virves followed a more traditional ladder of progression via Junior WRC, which he won in 2022, Linnamäe took an earlier step from front-wheel-drive to Rally2. Today, both are regulars in WRC2.
Virves can’t pinpoint precisely when he met Linnamäe, but says “little by little we have been becoming closer friends”.
Virves and Linnamäe were also paired together somewhat frequently during the 2023 season
He tells DirtFish: “Last year we both were driving in the RedGrey team so we were basically team-mates last year and of course we have a birthday on the same day!
“I don’t really know about the others but I personally don’t have any problems with any drivers. Of course some drivers I maybe get along with more, for example like Georg, but during the rally we are rivals from the moment when we put on the helmet.
“But other than that… we were starting quite close to each other [last weekend] so mostly on the road sections we were stopped almost always together and then it was just normal stupid jokes until we got the helmets on again.”
So while all they wanted to do is beat each other on the stages, off them they have a good laugh and actually help each other out too.
Linnamäe and Virves first competed against one another at R2 level in the 2010s
“Robert and I met when we were still both driving front-wheel-drive cars and, I don’t know I think it’s just sort of developed into a friendship through trying to… we were both trying to improve, and I think we saw an opportunity to help each other a bit and share information and what we had learned,” Linnamäe explains.
“By the time Robert got into a Rally2 car I had been in a Rally2 car for two years, so obviously he had a lot of questions for me and I was happy to help because as a competitor I do respect him tremendously.
“I would say that in the end I still think he’s my friend – not just because I respect but because I just like him as a person, he’s a very nice guy.
“I mean I’m not going to say that Robert and I are meeting every day and we’re like unbelievably close, but I do consider him a good friend and when he is Tallinn or I happen to be in Saaremaa or wherever we often do go and hang out a bit.”
That stands for on the rallies too, as a picture captured and later shared by ERC championship manager Iain Campbell showed the pair studying the same onboard in the regroup ahead of the powerstage.
In the minutes leading up to the rally-deciding stage, Linnamäe and Virves elected to watch live onboard footage together
“That actually makes sense because we were watching my onboard from the first pass, so that’s why he made such a good run on the second one!” Virves laughs.
DirtFish puts that theory to Linnamäe, who responds: “But I was faster than him on the first pass also!”
And therein encapsulates their relationship.
The fight on the stages
As mentioned, the fight to win Rally Estonia was epic – irrespective of who the protagonists were.
Split by just a single second after Saturday’s leg of nine stages, Virves edged ahead as Sunday began – a committed run on the penultimate stage leaving him 9.3s clear with just the powerstage to go. Linnamäe had surely been dealt with, but it wasn’t that simple.
“After the penultimate stage, Robert saw me on the road and gave me like a cheeky smile and I just basically knew that ‘alright, now it’s on!'” Linnamäe smiles.
But the elder of the two Estonians insists he still started that powerstage knowing he had a chance – primarily because the weather was worsening.
“Well, basically our plans differed,” Linnamäe says. “Robert took three hards, two softs and we took three softs, two hards. But because we had a puncture on the penultimate stage we ended up both being on two softs, two hards crossed for the last stage.
Linnamäe and Virves ended tied for most stage wins on five apiece, demonstrating how close their battle for victory was
“But I think what really helped us out was just the more open pattern on the Michelin tire for those conditions – that’s basically why I was quite confident we were still in with a shout because Robert was on more optimal tires for the penultimate stage but I knew that the last stage would be mega tricky conditions and that’s where our tires should work a bit better.”
However, to take 11.5s out of anybody on that powerstage was the stuff of legend.
“I would say it was almost a moment in every corner but at the same time it wasn’t scary as such, it did feel quite under control but it was just a huge, huge push,” Linnamäe continues.
“So obviously you will have some moments but the moments themselves just sort of happened and you just sort of trust yourself and the car that I can save that and I can push.
“Most of the run, you would probably say in normal driving they were moments but in that run they sort of just… felt really under control somehow.
“I’m glad that we managed to fight for the whole rally and fight on the road, not because one had some misfortune or anything. We genuinely were just racing each other and yeah to end in that way, it was almost like a dream.”
We had a joke before the rally with Estonian journalists that Robert beat us by 0.6s in Poland so now I had to beat him by more than that, somehow.Georg Linnamäe
For Virves the rally was far from perfect. Changes to the setup of his Škoda in the week between Poland and Estonia didn’t quite work and left him struggling on the first pass of stages, “but we had no chance to fix them during the rally so I tried to adapt to it.
“The first passes were a struggle but when the road was more rutted then it was a bit easier to drive. It wasn’t perfect for sure but still we tried well and I think in the end, even with the mistakes we have made, it was a good result.
“Of course the first person I want to win is myself,” Virves adds, “but in this case it wasn’t that hard. I can be happy for him because he deserved it as well.”
Battle resumes in Finland
Both drivers are skipping the trip to Latvia next week but will return to WRC action at Rally Finland (August 1-4).
Virves is relieved to start at all as his run in Finland was only confirmed the week of Rally Estonia, but he wants to contest the Acropolis later this season too “because it’s a rally where I have been two times and I want to show that I can drive not only on the fast roads”.
After a long spell on the sidelines with budget problems, Virves is finally on a strong run of rallies after starting his season on Rally Italy Sardinia six weeks ago
As for Finland: “Let’s see. There’s many, many, many great drivers [who can win].
“This will be one of the hardest ones. I don’t have experience in Finland; for sure these roads are a bit trickier. I got to recce them last year but I had an accident already on the first stage in the fifth kilometer, so not too much to take from the rally last year!
“But OK, it happens and I am really looking forward to it.”
Linnamäe’s budget is more secure, and this season he’s begun to establish himself as more of a regular frontrunner aboard a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – something he admits was “our plan” this year.
His next target after winning in ERC is to win a WRC2 event, but he says “obviously it’s very difficult anyway and if you do win your first one it’ll always be difficult, it’s a tricky sport with a lot of things that can go wrong”.
But the Rally Estonia victory has at least boosted Linnamäe’s self-confidence.
Linnamaë's Estonia win was his first at continental level
“At least I think, especially because we managed to win on the road with a huge push on the final stage, if anything it has at least given me the confidence that I genuinely believe now that I can do it, because before it’s happened you always have doubts ‘am I ever going to be able to do it?'” he shares.
“But now I think I do feel like it is genuinely possible.”
What’s certainly possible is another fight with Virves, because after all they’ve got a score to settle.
“We had a joke before the rally with Estonian journalists that Robert beat us by 0.6s in Poland so now I had to beat him by more than that, somehow.
“Now I’m 1.6s up on him so the fight goes on in Finland!”
