Rally Estonia not only marks the return of the World Rally Championship, but a weekend of action that is going to be completely new to a considerable amount of the service park, and a change in the rules about who runs first on the stages that could prove critical in the title race.
With the vast majority of competitive mileage occurring on Saturday, and on loose-surface roads, it has been decided that the championship leader will only have to run in the disadvantageous position of first on the road for half of the day’s stages rather than all of them.
After that, the running order will be the event’s reverse classification and continue that way through to the end of this short but fast 17-stage rally.
Here are the big numbers you need to know, from the running order to the provisional itinerary:
Running order
#17 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota Yaris WRC)
#33 Elfyn Evan/Scott Martin (Toyota Yaris WRC)
#11 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
#69 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota Yaris WRC)
#8 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
#3 Teemu Suninen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC)
#4 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Ford Fiesta WRC)
#18 Takamoto Katsuta/Daniel Baritt (Toyota Yaris WRC)
#42 Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
#44 Gus Greensmith/Elliott Edmondson (Ford Fiesta WRC)
#7 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Vincent Landais (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
#64 Georg Gross/Raigo Mõlder (Ford Fiesta WRC)
#65 Kimmo Kurkela/Reeta Hämäläinen (Ford Fiesta WRC)
Leading championship positions:
WRC
1 Ogier 62; 2 Evans 54; 3 Neuville 42; 4 Rovanperä 40; 5 Tänak 38; 6 Suninen 26
WRC2
1 Mads Østberg 50; 2 Nikolay Gryazin 41; 3 Pontus Tidemand 40; 4 Ole Christian Veiby 33; 5 Adrien Fourmaux 30; 6 Rhys Yayes 22
WRC3
1 Eric Camilli 25; 2 Jari Huttunen 25; 3 Marco Bulacia 25; 4 Nicolas Ciamin 18; 5 Emil Lindholm 18; 6 Emilio Fernández 18
Rally Estonia entry breakdown:
Total 60 crews
11 Priority 1 crews
6 Priority 2 crews (WRC2)
22 Priority 3 crews (WRC3)
12 Priority 4 crews (JWRC)
9 Non-Priority crews
Itinerary – all times Estonian local
Friday September 4
Shakedown – (3.87 miles) 0901
SS1 Tartu (0.80 miles) 1908
Saturday September 5
Service Raadi 0638
SS2 Prangli 1 (12.57 miles) 0740
SS3 Kanepi 1 (10.50 miles) 0821
SS4 Otepää 1 (5.97 miles) 0908
SS5 Mäeküla 1 (9.17 miles) 1000
SS6 Elva 1 (7.28 miles) 1119
Service Raadi 1314
SS7 Prangli 2 (12.57 miles) 1437
SS8 Kanepi 2 (10.50 miles) 1518
SS9 Otepää 2 (5.97 miles) 1608
SS10 Mäeküla 2 (9.17 miles) 1700
SS11 Elva 2 (7.28 miles) 1819
Service Raadi 1934
Sunday September 6
Service Raadi 0609
SS12 Arula 1 (4.33 miles) 0735
SS13 Kaagvere 1 (9.61 miles) 0809
SS14 Kambja 1 (12.46 miles) 0908
SS15 Arula 2 (4.33 miles) 1049
SS16 Kaagvere 2 (9.61 miles) 1128
SS17 Kambja 2 (12.46 miles) 1318
Total competitive distance: 144.59 miles
Total liaison distance: 397.30 miles
Total distance: 541.88 miles
DirtFish coverage
Keep an eye on DirtFish.com plus our social media channels for the fastest and most comprehensive Rally Estonia coverage this weekend.
We’ll have coverage of every stage, all the news from the service park, on-the-scene conditions updates from Wednesday morning and regular video insight and interviews from Colin Clark and David Evans.
Then check back on Monday for David Evans’ unrivaled in-depth analysis of how the rally was won, our ‘things we learned’ rundown of the biggest talking points, the best pictures of the weekend (and some of the quirkiest from behind the scenes) and our new driver ratings feature.
