Robert Virves’ World Rally Championship season has come to a close with Acropolis Rally Greece for the second year in a row. But the way those seasons have finished are poles apart. There’s far more reason for optimism this time around.
His maiden season in WRC2 had not gone to plan. After using up the prize drives for becoming Junior WRC champion a year earlier, his copybook looked rather blotted: he crashed out of Portugal and Finland (in the latter case, on the very first forest stage of the rally), and on his home round in Estonia he was over two minutes adrift of former Junior title rival Sami Pajari. And then the struggle to return and make amends began.
Nine months came and went without Virves turning a wheel in anger. Rally Sweden was supposed to be the start of his 2024 season but the piggy bank remained empty. Finally, the chance came to start with a fresh sheet of paper on Rally Italy Sardinia – at the very last minute.
“If I remember correctly it was the last day of the entry closing,” Virves told DirtFish, retelling how he’d finally managed to get himself back on a WRC entry list.
“It was quite a long time. I was trying to start the season obviously from Sweden already, but it seemed quite impossible because to find some funding in Estonia is very, very difficult. I was trying to find different solutions but it looked like it’s never going to work out very well.”
Virves' WRC2 season was supposed to end after Rally Poland
This time would be different: he had three events, Italy and Poland in WRC2 and Estonia in the ERC, in a RaceSeven-run Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 to prove he could fight with the bog boys of WRC2 – including against Pajari, the driver he’d beaten to the Junior crown in 2022.
Sixth place in Italy was a strong start given how long he’d been away from the cockpit of a rally car. But Poland represented a turning point: his first WRC2 podium. He’d been battling Oliver Solberg for second, suffered a puncture on the penultimate stage and dropped to fifth, then surged back to third by going fastest on the powerstage.
Poland was supposed to be the end of the road in WRC2 this year. But that result turned a couple of one-offs into a chance to build some serious momentum.
“I knew that I can do it,” said Virves of his podium finish. “And somehow it felt quite natural. It was going very well with the new car, new team, everything was smooth. I had good support and it felt quite natural, for sure. In Poland I didn’t really feel that it’s been so long time without driving a car. I was just happy we were there and we were just enjoying it and doing our thing. That’s when the results come.
“After Rally Poland we got agreement with the main sponsor that we can do Rally Finland,” added Virves. “And then I really wanted to go to Greece to not have only fast rallies in my calendar. So yeah, it all started to somehow roll on.”
Virves has worked hard to keep his season going
Finland was going well until a clutch issue on Saturday – which was compounded by the hood of his Fabia flipping open on Ouninpohja. But getting to Greece was the work of several hundred Estonians: Rally Estonia director Urmo Aava and sports commentator Kalev Kruus teamed up to crowdfund Virves’ Acropolis entry. And he paid them back handsomely in an unexpected fashion.
Virves had battled Pajari for the lead on Saturday morning, though the Toyota driver eventually pulled away out front. Both had benefited from Citroën’s Yohan Rossel stopping to change a puncture on Friday afternoon. Those factors coalesced into the trio being 45.8s apart heading into the powerstage – with Virves 28.5s behind Pajari. On any other rally that gap would be impossible – but this was the Acropolis. Strange things happen. And they did.
Pajari picking up a puncture on the final stage opened the door for Virves. He pushed on and won the powerstage by a whopping 13.5s – but it wasn’t enough. By 0.0s. They ended up tied. Pajari won the rally on a tiebreaker, being the faster driver of the pair on SS1 back on Friday morning.
A potential first WRC2 win was a tenth of a second away. But being a cigarette paper’s width short of winning rallies was a huge turnaround from 12 months earlier.
Virves lost out on a maiden WRC2 win by essentially nothing, but he's not too disappointed
“From the beginning for sure, you have to be a bit disappointed,” said Virves of the unprecedented WRC2 dead heat. “But I think it’s not a big deal; we always want to win but I wasn’t driving for points or the title. It’s more important for me that I got to show myself on a different kind of terrain: on fast rallies and on a rough rally. And I showed that I’m able to drive fast everywhere. So this is for sure the most important thing for me.”
A point has been made. Sorting a full-season WRC2 program is a little easier when you’ve got momentum on your side. And it opens up the possibility of a step up to the big leagues: Rally1 may be in Virves’ not-too-distant future.
Earlier this year WRC Promoter pioneered a new scheme to give rookies a chance at the top level, subsidising Rally1 seats for promising youngsters in WRC2 and the ERC. Mārtiņš Sesks was the first beneficiary and blew everyone away with his performances on Rally Poland and Latvia. He’s back for Chile. The good news for Virves is he might be next.
Peter Thul, WRC Promoter senior director of sport recently admitted that Virves “is definitely one name on the list,” though went on to caveat that “it is a very long list.”
Virves, though, is optimistic that his recent WRC2 outings have put him near the front of the queue for consideration, especially considering Estonia returns to the WRC calendar next year.
“I really hope so,” said Virves. “I think it’s a very nice thing and the right thing what they are doing now with Mārtiņš and Sami. I think that’s how it should be done because otherwise it seemed like there is no possible option for young drivers to get a chance to drive those cars.
“Mārtiņš and Sami were showing very strong pace in their first rallies with the Rally1 car so for sure it has gave me some extra hope. I’ve shown that we can be very competitive in WRC2 and if I could do a full season next year, I think by the time we arrive to Rally Estonia, it would be a very good time to step into this car.”
To think Virves could be on the brink of making it to Rally1 a year ago would have seemed unthinkable. But a lot can happen in 12 months: just ask Sesks. And unlike last year, Virves won’t be waiting another nine months to get back in the car.
“I really hope that I can do a full season next year,” said Virves. “And for sure, I want to to be running on every possible surface so we’ll use the winter time for some Tarmac rallies if it will be possible.
“I think we have shown that we have what it takes. For sure, we are lacking some consistency at the moment, but it’s not a big deal when I’ve not had so much seat time compared to the other top drivers.”
If that changes, there’s potential to see Virves at the sharp end of WRC2 more often in 2025 – and potentially even in a Rally1 car.
