Solberg continues dream WRC Rally1 return as Estonia lead extends 

Oliver Solberg continued his dream return to the World Rally Championship top flight by extending his Rally Estonia lead to 12.4s over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak on Friday.

Solberg produced a stunning display to claim his first WRC stage wins, making the most of a special opportunity to join the factory Toyota squad on Estonia’s fast gravel stages this weekend.

After only two days of testing to prepare for the event, Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson, starting eighth on the road, quickly gelled with the new machinery to stun the Rally1 regulars. 

Solberg claimed an emotional first WRC stage win on the day’s second test before adding to that tally on stage four, the second pass through the Peipsiääre test. After building an 8.5s lead over Tanak at the midday service, the son of 2003 world champion Petter Solberg maintained an impressive pace across the three afternoon stages. 

Oliver Solberg added a third fastest time in stage seven, beating Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux by 0.3s in the process, before ending the day with a spectacular run through the stage eight asphalt super special. The Swede almost topped the scores in an impromptu drift competition laid on by the organisers during the stage. 

“Today was the best day of my life – to lead the rally, win stages and have this amazing feeling in the car. I was like – I want to drift and have some fun,” said Solberg.

Estonian Tanak, disadvantaged by starting second on the road, battled balance issues with his Hyundai, which showed little signs of improving on the afternoon stages. Tanak claimed two stage wins but was unable to make any inroads on Solberg.

Tanak’s Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville made progress with his i20 N as the day progressed, having encountered problems adapting to Hankook’s gravel tyres in the morning.

The reigning world champion and overnight leader managed to leapfrog Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera across the afternoon to end the day in third, 14.2s behind.

Three-time Rally Estonia winner Rovanpera continued to struggle to unlock pace from the Hankook rubber. The double world champion, who has previously dominated this event, felt his performance to finish Friday in fourth [+20.1s] was the best he could achieve with his GR Yaris package.

“One more day of struggle like everyday this year, of course we will try to find something for tomorrow – a better road position will help. I think it’s going to be chin to the chest and towards another disappointment like always,” said a frustrated Rovanpera.

After a slow start to Friday, Fourmaux delivered an impressive pace in the afternoon to climb from seventh to fifth [+29.8s], helped by a fastest time on stage six.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta slipped to sixth, ending Friday with the joint fastest time on stage eight win, which he shared with Neuville.

Championship leader Elfyn Evans was among those that found the going tough on Estonia’s roads, with his task further hampered by opening the road. The Toyota driver dropped to seventh [+41.4s] across the afternoon loop.

Team-mate Sami Pajari recovered from an intermittent power issue that plagued his morning to end Friday, clocking times closer to the outright pace, to sit in eighth [+1m05.1s].

Martins Sesks put the disappointment of a stage three spin behind him to lead M-Sport-Ford’s charge in ninth [+1m11.4s], ahead of Josh McErlean [+1m30.0s] and Gregoire Munster [+1m40.6s].

Nine stages, comprising 125.75 competitive kilometres, await the crews on Saturday.