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The second full day of action had 106km’s over nine stages. Ott Tanak would open the road throughout the second day.

Into the first stage then, SS9 Mäeküla 1 – 10.27 km and Kalle was fastest from Thierry and Elfyn. The Welshman closed the gap to EP who was holding third. Ott was now in eleventh overall and just 6.2 seconds from the points paying positions. Andreas remained in charge of WRC2 holding a 9.3 second lead over Gus whilst Sami held third.

Kalle made it two in a row winning SS10 Otepää 1 – 11.15 km also with Thierry and Elfyn second and third fastest. Elfyn’s morning pace was bringing him close to Esapekka, the gap now just seven tenths of a second! Meanwhile Ott jumped up two places and into ninth overall and was just eight seconds from WRC2 leader Andreas.

After the regroup and tyre fitting zone there was the second run of SS11 Mäeküla 2 – 10.27 km. Kalle was fastest again but this time EP was second fastest from Elfyn, whilst Thierry was fourth. The gap between Elfyn and Esapekka rose very slightly to 1.2 seconds. Ott moved into eighth place, pushing WRC2 leader Andreas down to ninth, whilst Sami passed Gus for second place in the category.

Kalle was really on a roll now, winning SS12 Otepää 2 – 11.15 km from Esapekka and Elfyn. Thierry fell away from the battle for the lead as he suffered from a tyre coming away from the wheel rim. In WRC2 Andreas remained in the lead, but Sami edged a little closer by a few tenths of a second.

After the service break, we had a whole new set of stages for the crews to tackle, starting with SS13 Elva 1 – 11.73 km. This stage included a visit to a rally cross circuit. The top three was Kalle, Thierry and EP. The Finns lead over the Belgian was now 23.9 seconds and EP was also gapping Elfyn, there being a gap now of two and a half seconds. There was no change in the WRC2 category with Andreas still leading, but the gap did come down a little to 16.3 seconds to Sami who was faster in the stage.

Into SS14 Kanepi 1 – 16.48 km and again Kalle was fastest from Thierry and Esapekka. The Finn in his i20 was opening a gap to Elfyn and now was ahead by 3.7 seconds. There was no change either with the top three in the WRC2 category.

Kalle again was fastest in SS15 Elva 2 – 11.73 km but this time from his teammate Elfyn who was one second faster than EP, thus reducing the gap again, whilst Thierry was third fastest.

In the next one, SS16 Kanepi 2 – 16.48 km Kalle again was fastest from Thierry and Esapekka and Elfyn was fourth, losing more time to EP. The gap was now 5.6 seconds. In WRC2 Sami edged a little closer to Andreas, bringing the gap down to 15.1 seconds. The young Finn was eyeing up a category win.

Onto the final stage, run near the service park and a bit of a mickey mouse stage really, SS17 Tartu vald 2 – 3.35 km. Last run-on Thursday evening and as the opening stage of the event. Kalle made it a clean sweep of all nine stages, winning this one as well from EP and Thierry. WRC2 category leader was sixth fastest in the stage.

Let’s take a look at the top positions.

Classification after Day Two

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been an amazing day. It doesn’t happen so often that you can win all the stages in one day. We had a clear plan this morning to push hard and get a bit of a gap if we can, and to make use of our better starting place. It was a bit easier to match the speed, we had a clean morning and gained a lot of time. This afternoon I really enjoyed the stages, and it went well, the feeling was great in the car. Tomorrow is still a tricky day, with a new stage that is quite technical, so we need to stay sharp, do a good job and then hopefully we can have a final push on the Power Stage.”

Elfyn Evans

“It has been a pretty close battle with Esapekka: there has been a fair bit of back and forth between us during the day and we’ve both enjoyed the fight. It was particularly tight this morning: I took a bit in the first couple of stages, and then he took exactly the same amount back. The gap went a bit more in his favour towards the end of the day, so it’s a bit bigger now than we would like. The longer stage this afternoon maybe didn’t suit us so well and we conceded a bit too much time there. But it’s still relatively close and all to play for tomorrow. We’re going to give it everything we have and see what we can do.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Together with the team we changed a few things on the car last night and we made a good step forward with the setup, so I felt much better than yesterday. Of course, I was struggling a bit with the grip because of our starting position, which we knew would be the case. But other than that, it was going well this morning. I was trying to improve my driving more this afternoon, but then many things happened. We had a few issues with the car and the intercom, and it was a bit difficult to work out what was going on, but we got through all the stages OK and that’s the main thing.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I enjoyed today; we were driving the car to its maximum most of the time and having a lot of fun while still feeling comfortable, which was key. We made no mistakes and had no moments, but we got unlucky with a puncture, which cost us a few seconds. The goal tomorrow is to bring home the result, but Esapekka and Elfyn are pushing hard behind us. Esapekka has had an incredible day – I felt I was driving really well, and we were nearly matching times in the stages, which shows that our car is giving us what we need to go fast. We have been strong in the past here and the car feels good, but we are clearly missing something that would get us closer to Kalle.”

Esapekka Lappi

“I think this is the first time in my career where I have had this kind of fight for position over two days. We struggled to build a bigger gap in the forest, but it is impressive that on the super special we managed to stretch the gap a fair bit. It has been up and down against Elfyn, but it has been a nice battle. I took more risks in the afternoon and drove on the limit more It has been enjoyable, but I thought I gave everything on SS15 – maybe even a little bit more – and so for the time to not be impressive was quite frustrating. We will do everything we can to stay ahead tomorrow; while we all know the Power Stage, there is also a brand new one which can always throw up some surprises.”

Teemu Suninen

“Step by step, we have been able to improve and increase our pace today. I am thankful to Dani; he has been like a big brother to me, helping with my first steps in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid. There were two stages where we lost just over a second, so we are not far away however, I still need a bit more rhythm to maintain a consistently good pace. Now there is a risk that we make a mistake; we haven’t had a single moment so far, which might mean there is a bit of margin to go faster, but to be honest I need the kilometres. As I’m in the third car, I need to be in a good position to bring home points in case anything happens tomorrow.”

Sunday

The final day sees the crews tackle 61km’s over four stages with a service break in the middle. Can Kalle continue in the same form and win all the final stages, or will we see another stage winner?

The first full day of action would see the crews tackle 136km’s over seven stages. Following the opening stage, the previous evening, Ott was leading from Thierry and Kalle. The start list looked like this – Rovanperä, Evans, Tänak, Neuville, Lappi, Katsuta, Loubet, Suninen, Solberg (WRC2), Greensmith (WRC2).

First up was SS2 Peipsiääre 1 – 24.35 km and Ott was fastest from Thierry and Kalle. There were a few changes in the leader board, with Thierry moving into the lead, Kalle moving into second, whilst Esapekka and Elfyn dropped a place each to third and fourth. In WRC2 Oliver moved into the lead and Andreas into second, whilst Egon held third. At this stage, Ott was holding 46^th overall.

Into SS3 Mustvee 1 – 17.09 km and Ott was fastest through this one from Thierry and Kalle. The Belgian now held a 3.9 second lead over the Finn. There was a change for third, with Elfyn moving ahead of EP who suffered a boost problem with his hybrid system. The stage winner gained nine places on the leader board, moving into 37^th place. In WRC2, Oliver continued to lead, but was not altogether happy with the way his Skoda was handling. Andreas remained second with Gus moving into third place.

The final morning stage SS4 Raanitsa 1 – 21.45 km saw Ott once again set the pace from Thierry again and Kalle. The Estonian gained another six positions as well. His expected march up the leader board was going well. There was a change in WRC2 for third place behind the two leaders with Gus dropping two places and Georg and Egon passing the Brit.

After the service break, Kalle swooped, winning SS5 Peipsiääre 2 – 24.35 km from Esapekka and Elfyn. Overall leader, Thierry could only manage the fourth best time, seeing his lead cut to 2.1 seconds. Meanwhile, Pierre-Louis moved ahead of Takamoto and into sixth overall. Teemu was going really well in his debut event with the i20 Rally1 holding fifth overall and matching Thierry’s pace as well. There was drama in WRC2 with erstwhile leader Oliver hitting the scenery and damaging his suspension. With the young Swede’s demise for the day, Andreas moved into the lead of the category Sami was now second and Egon third. Ott gained another ten places and was now in twenty-first place.

We had a lead change in SS6 Mustvee 2 – 17.09 km with Kalle going fastest from Ott and Esapekka. Former leader Thierry could only manage the fifth best time and fell to second, albeit with a 2.3 gap to the Finn. In WRC2 Andreas remained in the lead from Egon who’d passed Sami for second. The rise of the local favourite continued with Ott gaining a further four positions and moving into seventeenth overall.

Ott was again fastest in SS7 Raanitsa 2 – 21.45 km and gained a further five places to move into twelfth place. EP was second and Pierre-Louis third. Sadly, Elfyn dropped behind EP, who now held third overall. There were some changes in WRC2 behind Andreas. Egon who was holding second in the category prior to the stage dropped seven positions, with Gus, Sami and Emil benefitting.

The final stage of the day, SS8 Neeruti – 7.60 km saw Ott fastest again from Elfyn and Kalle. There were no changes in the top three, meaning Kalle is the overall leader heading into Saturday’s stages and Andreas is holding the WRC2 lead. Ott gained one last position moving into eleventh overall, just twenty-two seconds from tenth place, currently held by Sami.

Let’s look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It was a really big challenge this morning opening the road, as it was much looser than I was expecting. It seems the roads had been drying quite a bit since the recce. I think we did a good job, we pushed really hard without making mistakes and there was not much more that we could do. This afternoon was a bit better, as we could at least have similar grip levels to the guys behind. We needed to open the ruts a bit in places but at least we could push and at the end of the day it’s not looking so bad. It’s still close with Thierry so let’s see how it is tomorrow when we both have better starting places. I hope at least that our pace will come easier than today.”

Elfyn Evans

“Our day started not too bad this morning considering our road position, but I didn’t have the best feeling with the car. I was struggling with the balance a little bit and it wasn’t as easy as I’d like. So, there were definitely some improvements to be made with the setup during service, and things were quite a bit better this afternoon. Unfortunately, we just had one stage – the third one of the loop – where we seemed to drop a lot of time but other than that I’ve had an improved feeling behind the wheel and that puts us in a better place looking ahead to tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It has been quite a long and tough day for me. In the morning, I was struggling a bit and didn’t feel so good with the car. Then, this afternoon, the conditions on the second pass were much rougher. The team did a good job to improve the car a lot, but on my side, I was still finding it difficult. The high-speed sections are OK for me, but when it’s very technical or when it’s rutted and the risk is getting higher, I’m hesitating too much. Tomorrow we will drive four stages twice and I will try step-by-step to find some confidence and hopefully start to use the potential of the car more.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I’m definitely satisfied to finish the day in second place. We would like to have kept our first position, but we expected Kalle Rovanperä to be very fast this afternoon. I kept trying but in some sections I was losing a little bit here and there. We may have lost the position, but at the end of the day we are only three seconds behind. Compared to last year, my feeling in the car is much better and I was quite confident, as well as having a lot of fun out there. Tomorrow will be tough, Kalle has the better road position if there is no rain, so let’s see what we can do.”

Esapekka Lappi

“We have had a very consistent day from the first stage to the last. In the morning we faced a hybrid issue, which we later discovered was caused by me, but doing a whole loop without the boost was definitely a disadvantage. I really tried to push hard to minimise the time loss before we reset the issue in service. The second loop was easier, but the conditions were quite tricky. It was especially so on the first two afternoon stages where there were deep ruts and some holes, which caught me out under braking. Overall, it’s been a very fun day. The car is behaving so well, and I am able to do exactly what I want – I can push to the limit, and sometimes even go over it.”

Teemu Suninen

“The feeling today has been amazing. I really enjoyed it and focused on learning the car as quickly as possible. I think we have shown good pace and I loved every single stage. It has been so nice to be back working in the top class and with the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team, especially Dani Sordo who has been a big support to me so far. I knew it is impossible to drive conservatively here, because then you are nowhere, so I tried to avoid bigger risks and was careful in really high-speed places. I think there is still more to come, and while we want to bring the car home safely without mistakes, I hope I can make a few small steps forward.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“On the first one we were struggling quite a bit and the second one we improved a bit, but had some technical problem with the set-up, and the last two were much smoother and two good stages. First on the road tomorrow and it appears dry, so definitely not helping, anyhow we catch quite a bit of time and the rally2’s are not far and that’s been the target”

Saturday

The second full day of action will see the crews tackle 106km’s over nine stages. Can Kalle remain in front, or will Thierry turn up the speed like always appears to do on Saturday’s and take the lead back? The battle between the fan favourites Elfyn and Esapekka for third is even closer at just 1.9 seconds!

Ott’s continued rise will surely continue as he targets the forty second gap between himself and WRC2 leader Andreas who currently holds eighth overall.

After last month’s epic Safari Rally Kenya, the championship arrives back in Europe with the reigning champions leading the way. Of course, the exclusion of Thierry Neuville from the results of that rally puts Elfyn into send in the championship and also second on the road and he will surely be a threat to his teammates who lead the way. Takamoto again steps up to drive a car nominated for manufacturer points with Seb Ogier enjoying a longer holiday and missing this event.

At M-Sport, Ott will certainly be targeting a big result to get himself back into the championship battle, and will have a good road position as well, whilst his teammate Pierre-Louis will look to get more useful experience for the future.

Finally at Hyundai Thierry has not helped his championship challenge with his mistakes at the last round, and it has to be said that he’s not really felt at home on these fast type of roads over the years. Will he be able to find some pace both in Estonia and Finland which is at the start in August? Esapekka has shown great pace throughout this year and could again star at the front, perhaps even lead with a great road position throughout Friday.

Here’s a look at the stages.

Twenty-one in total and 300km’s spread across the weekend make this rally a big challenge. Friday sees the longest day with 136km’s, then 102km’s on Saturday and finally 61km’s on Sunday.

Let’s hear from the drivers.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“Rally Estonia is definitely one of my favourite events on the calendar. I have spent a lot of time in Estonia and the fast and flowing roads suit my driving style really well. I have good memories from the rally, and it has always been an enjoyable one for me. Even in 2020 when I didn’t have much experience we could fight for the podium, and then 2021 was very special as it was our first win. Last year the weather was making a difference and I hope we can have some rain this year too, because we will be opening the road again on Friday. Like on any rally, the plan will be to aim for the win, and especially as this is one, we have been so strong on before.”

Elfyn Evans

“Estonia brings a complete change of territory and with it a change of mentality. We’re coming off the back of some rough and relatively low-speed rallies and moving onto extremely high-speed and smooth gravel, and these next events are all about confidence and commitment behind the wheel. As a driver, you need to have trust in your pacenotes and also have a good feeling with the car, so we were working hard during our pre-event test last week to try and get everything right. Hopefully we can go into it feeling good from the beginning and really enjoy the driving, which is really key to performing well on a rally like this one.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I really like the kind of high-speed stages we have in Estonia and Finland. It’s going to be a big challenge but I’m really looking forward to these rallies. In Estonia, the stages are very fast but there are also some really narrow and twisty sections. The surface can be quite soft sometimes, so the ruts can make the second pass of stages even more difficult: as a driver you still need to really commit but you also have to be able to manage the ruts well. I will try to do my best and I hope that I can perform well and get a good result for the team.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Rally Estonia is a challenging event for me every year. Fast and wide roads mean the average speed is very high, so you need to really to commit to it and feel comfortable in the car. Most of the time you are running a low car, at least on the first pass. On the second pass you might have to rise the ride height because of the ruts. Generally, you need to find the balance between a stiff car to get the precision and the directivity, but also keep enough traction. It’s hard to find the right balance but those are the main challenges.”

Esapekka Lappi

“As everyone knows, in terms of speed this event is similar to Finland and Chile. The driving style is you are either full throttle or braking – there is no in-between. Normally in central European rallies, you need to drive a different way, but in Estonia and Finland you are full throttle and that is the biggest difference. One of the main challenges in my point of view is that road usage is not so clear; you can cut from the bushes and use the exits if there is a field. To be able to comfortably go outside of the road you have to have perfect pace notes at that speed, that is the trickiest thing to get right.”

Teemu Suninen

“I’m really excited to get in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid, especially when it’s one of my favourite rallies. I’ve been dreaming of it for a long time, and I’ve been working hard to get back to the top class so it’s great to be here. Normally Rally Estonia is one of the fastest rallies on the whole calendar and it’s like a sprint, so we have to drive flat out from start to finish. The surface is normally quite soft so the grip level is really high, especially on the second loop with some big ruts. My main goal is to bring some good manufacturer points, but I also need to show good pace, and if the feeling is good, then we will push for a strong result.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“We’ve had some quite intense preparations; we did a pre-event test and then a small event, so it’s been a big effort to make it as good as possible for Estonia. Obviously, the next two events are purely about performance, so we’re putting everything into it and we’ll find out how close we get to the others.

“Now we are going into the second half of the season we’re definitely not letting the championship go, so we feel like we need to increase our game and put everything in. It’s going to be a short turnaround to Finland, so if something isn’t quite working in Estonia the week in between will be flat out, but hopefully in Estonia we will be on a good level already.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“There are a lot of changes to be made ahead of this kind of rally. It’s almost the complete opposite of what we saw in Kenya and some of the previous rallies which have been very rough! We can expect Estonia’s road to be very clean and very fast.

“We will be making a lot of changes to the car’s settings; the ride height, the dampers, everything really. I’m looking forward to it, it’s definitely one of the most enjoyable events of the season. Because of the high speeds on straights and on corners and everywhere, it’s really a great event for these Rally1 cars to showcase their power. We will try to enjoy it and hopefully achieve a good result!”

WRC2 Category

Hyundai

Emil Lindholm

“It’s exciting to go into my first event in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2. It’s a new team and a new car, and it’s already feeling impressive so I’m confident going into Estonia. The roads are soft so they get rutted but, of course, they’re super-fast – some unique road conditions. It reminds me of my home rally, so of course I like it. The target for the weekend is to enjoy the car, enjoy the roads and to do our best. I believe we have everything we need to achieve a podium in Estonia.”

Fabrizio Zaldivar

“I’m ready to get back into the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 and focus on going flat-out for the rest of our campaign. There is no better rally to apply this approach than Rally Estonia, which requires you to maintain a consistent rhythm. We were disappointed with our struggles in Sardinia, so we are keen to wipe our slate clean and demonstrate what we and the car are capable of doing. If everything goes to plan, we will complete the rally without any large mistakes and hopefully score a good result.”

Oliver Solberg

I really like this rally; Rally Estonia is one of the fastest rallies of the season and it’s somewhere I’ve really enjoyed myself in the past.”

“We are allowed to take one dropped score in the championship,” said Oliver. “The retirement in Italy was obviously not what we wanted and now we need to stay focused and keep a consistent speed. “

Summary

Well, we are all set for high-speed on the forest roads of Estonia! This rally will be spectacular and there will be close battles up and down the timesheets. Unfortunately, Ott and Martin will start with a five minute penalty due to needing an engine change following problems in shakedown.

Enjoy and pop back to check my daily reports.