Estonia has waited a long time for a World Rally Championship round and it’s now effectively got two of them in three weekends – at least that’s how it feels as practically the whole WRC field lines up for the South Estonia Rally in Võru on Sunday.
The teams’ plans for Rally Estonia (September 4-6) are clear, but who’s doing what on Sunday? Here’s the DirtFish guide to what’s coming at the end of this week.
Hyundai Motorsport
Defending World Rally Champion Ott Tänak will lead the field away with the full weight of local expectation on his shoulders. The local hero – who hails from Estonia’s biggest island of Saaremaa – is well acquainted with the terrain and won the Viru Rally last month.
He’s not, however, quite so familiar with the hardware around him. Yes, South Estonia is going to be his seventh start in an i20 Coupe WRC, but he still doesn’t have the sort of intimate knowledge of the car he’d like. Will that slow him down? Yes. Will it slow him down enough to let somebody else take the win? No.
Photo: Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville is the exact opposite to Tänak: he knows the i20 inside-out, but he’s never been down Sunday’s roads before.
Neuville’s recent history with fast gravel roads is slightly checkered after he hit a rock and tipped his Hyundai into a fairly sizable shunt in Finland last month. The Belgian’s not scared of the speed though – his second place on only his second ever Rally Finland during his brief stint at M-Sport is testament to both that and the fact that’s he a very fast learner. Neuville arrives in Võru on the back of a confident and hugely competent victory at Rally di Alba.
Of Hyundai’s Rally Estonia line-up, only Craig Breen is missing.
Toyota Gazoo Racing
It’s a full assault from Tommi Mäkinen’s squad. With Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanperä all new to the Toyota Yaris WRC this year, it’s understandable that the team wants all three cars out and taking as much experience as possible.
It’s also something of a local rally for TGR now – don’t forget that it’s the research and development that’s done in Finland; the cars live in Tallinn, Estonia between the rallies and that’s where these cars come from.
All three drivers have enjoyed a couple of days of fast running in Finland, but none of them have started an actual rally since León’s shortened Rally México in March. The good news for Ogier is that he won last time out, with his victory in the Americas moving him to the top of the table.
Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing
Evans and Rovanperä are both more familiar with Estonia. The former is all-too familiar with one corner-jump complex in particular, having been ruled out of Finland and Germany after a back-damaging landing in Estonia last year. He’s got that note changed already. Ogier has vast experience to call on as he settles himself into a fast gravel-form Yaris WRC. Evans has slightly less, but should still be able to find his feet quickly.
For Rovanperä, this is going to be an interesting one. Pre-season he talked about the high-speed events being among the most difficult for him, given the belief and commitment needed to make the aero work at high speed. His powerstage win and maiden podium in Sweden demonstrated that he looks to have the quick bits licked already.
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
There’s no official representation from the British-based squad; it was always going to be complicated for them to be involved first-hand, with South Estonia running on the same weekend as the M-Sport Return to Rally Stages.
But Esapekka Lappi is still in a Rally1-spec Fiesta, driving the JanPro Racing Fiesta WRC – owned and prepared by former works Ford driver Janne Tuohino – that he was scheduled to use on the Jämsän Äijät Ralli before the car was sidelined with a turbo problem ahead of the start.
The car’s all fixed this time around and comes with some development parts to give Lappi a truer feel of what will be coming his way when he starts Rally Estonia.
Lappi’s WRC team-mate Teemu Suninen will be under a different awning to his compatriot, as he’s driving a first-generation Ford Fiesta R5 loaned from Finnish championship frontrunner Jari Ketomaa this Sunday.
