TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team has launched into Rally Estonia, one of the fastest events on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar.
The morning’s shakedown gave the drivers one last chance to get up to speed before the start of the rapid gravel rally. Kalle Rovanperä set the fastest time after making three runs over the stage, with team-mate Takamoto Katsuta completing a GR YARIS Rally1 one-two.
Oliver Solberg was fifth fastest in shakedown as the current WRC2 championship leader prepares for his first start with TGR-WRT at the highest level.
The team is also welcoming Central Automotive Products as a new partner; its logo visible on the A-pillar of the works GR YARIS Rally1 cars from this rally onwards.
Following the always well-attending ceremonial start in the historic centre of host city Tartu, crews tackled a short super special stage adjacent to the service park. Championship leader Elfyn Evans was second quickest over the 1.76-kilometre test, conceding just half a second to the fastest time set by Thierry Neuville (Hyundai).
Rovanperä was within a second of the pace in fourth, with Katsuta, Solberg and Sami Pajari all close behind in the Rally1 order.
Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“I think all our drivers are happy to be moving onto faster roads here in Estonia. I never competed here myself but I know that the stages are a bit different to Finland, with a few less jumps and crests. Still, they’re very fast nice roads with a good surface. Kalle has won here three times and he has confidence on these stages, but we also know Ott Tänak will be a tough competitor on his home roads. Elfyn has done a fantastic job opening the road on the last few rallies and, with the cleaner and faster stages here, shouldn’t suffer as much and should be able to stay in the fight. Taka and Sami can also do well here – as can Oliver, but the most important thing for him is to drive the whole rally to gain the experience.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Estonia has a massive following for rallying and the people are passionate about the sport, and we always get a warm welcome for the start. I’ve been looking forward to this weekend: it’s a nice change of pace from the last few events and with a high-speed character that we can really enjoy. There’s been a bit of rain in the build-up which should help us be not too disadvantaged running first on the road tomorrow. We’ll have to see how the conditions are in the morning, but hopefully it’s similar for everyone and we can be in a close fight.”
Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“It’s always really nice for me to be back in Estonia. It’s my favourite event to drive on the calendar, and the fans are really good here as well. The stages here are so fast that you need to push a lot, but when you’re feeling comfortable you can set some good times. I’m always feeling a bit more comfortable on these roads anyway and the feeling was good at the end of shakedown, so I think we’re quite well prepared.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“I’m happy to be back in Estonia with these fast gravel stages, and the fans are always nice. It was a quite OK start for me in SS1. In shakedown we just checked the car setup and found some interesting things, so we’re ready for the rally. Tomorrow will be a big challenge and it will be important to find the right pace and the balance between being committed and pushing too hard.”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It’s always cool to feel the passion of the fans here in Estonia at the start of the rally. It’s a nice rally and I’ll be just trying to enjoy it and find that good feeling and confidence that I’ve always had here in other categories. The feeling was good in shakedown: there was surprisingly good grip, and we don’t know how the conditions will be tomorrow, but we were trying to make a few adjustments to make it even better.”
Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It’s amazing to start my first rally with the GR YARIS Rally 1 car. In the super special, I couldn’t tell whether to use first or second gear in the tighter places, but I’ll figure it out. The feeling in shakedown on the faster roads was incredible. My test in Finland was good and I got quite comfortable with the car there, but the roads here are more technical and the soft surface can change a lot, so I’m just trying to adapt for that a bit. There are some very tricky stages tomorrow, but I’ll try to enjoy it, reach the finish and see how it goes.”
End of day one (Thursday):
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1m42.9s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +0.5s
3 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +0.6s
4 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.0s
5 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1.2s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.4s
6 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.8s
8 Georg Linnamäe/James Morgan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2.1s
9 Tuukka Kauppinen/Sebastian Virtanen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2.1s
10 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2.5s
(Results as of 19:15 on Thursday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
What’s next?
On Friday morning, a pair of stages north of Tartu – Peipsiääre and Mustvee – are run twice prior to mid-day service. The action moves south in the afternoon for two passes of the Kambja test, plus a super special stage on the streets of Elva, rounding out a total of 120.64 competitive kilometres across the day.
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