Oliver Solberg stuns WRC field to lead Rally Estonia…

Oliver Solberg stunned the World Rally Championship regulars to claim his first top-flight stage wins and capture the Rally Estonia lead on his Rally1 return with Toyota.

Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson quickly gelled with the GR Yaris Rally1 on their return to the WRC’s top tier for the first time since 2022. The pair completed the loop with an 8.5s lead over home hero Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, with Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera in third, 10.7s in arrears.

Solberg admitted before the rally that he wasn’t in Estonia to win the event, with the primary goal just to finish the rally. However, he emerged with the rally lead after stage two (Peipsiaare, 24.35km), where he blitzed the field, starting eighth on the road. The time was good enough to beat Rovanpera by 5.3s to claim first WRC career stage win, which prompted an emotional response at the stage end.

“It is a dream come true. I was a bit shocked and a bit emotional. I was totally surprised, there was a little celebration but it was more emotional. We have done enough now, I’m not here to win the rally,” said an emotional Solberg.

Oliver Solberg, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT (Photo by: Toyota Racing)

Solberg backed up his impressive pace in stage three, finishing 0.2s behind stage winner Tanak, before going on to win the second pass through the Peipsiaare by 2.8s from Rovanpera. The 23-year-old missed out on winning stage five by 0.9s to Tanak.

“The feeling is good and the car is incredible to drive, it is the best car I have ever driven,” added Solberg.

Tanak had predicted that he wouldn’t be able to fight for the victory due to some struggles with the front end of his Hyundai i20N. The issue was evident as the Estonian fought his car through the stages. Tanak did however claim stage three and five but admitted he was having a “massive struggle” in extracting the best from the i20 N.

“It was before the rally, somehow I really struggled to find out where I’m struggling. The way I like to drive, the car is not driving [how I want]. I’m too old style to learn the new tricks,” said Tanak.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1 (Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport)

Many had tipped a Tanak-versus-Rovanpera battle for the win this weekend. Rovanpera showed pace on Thursday’s shakedown, but on Friday morning the Finn continued to struggle in extracting outright pace from the Hankook rubber. Rovanpera managed to deliver a strong pace to keep himself firmly in the fight, but the three-time Rally Estonia winner wasn’t particularly happy with his performance.

“I think in the service we must try to find some traction. I think that is the easy way to go faster if we can have some more grip on the car as the grip feels quite low. I think we can improve that,” said Rovanpera.

Rovanpera wasn’t the only driver fighting to adapt to the Hankook rubber on smooth, fast gravel as Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville admitted to lacking confidence with the tyres in the high-speed conditions. The overnight leader after winning Thursday’s opening super special, the Belgian needing a strong points haul to ignite his title defence sat in fourth position [+12.0s].

“Honestly I struggle a lot with the grip changes, the grip is super low. These tyres in these conditions, it is super strange, you can’t find the confidence,” said Neuville after stage three, which was briefly halted to allow medical crews to attend to a spectator in an incident that didn’t involve a competing car.

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta also wasn’t comfortable behind the wheel but managed to overcome an intercom issue on stage three to hold fifth. Team-mate and championship leader Elfyn Evans faced the disadvantage of opening the road, which proved to be a bigger issue than he’d expected. The Welshman completed the loop in sixth, 0.5s behind Katsuta.

It proved to be a difficult morning for the other remaining Toyota driven by Sami Pajari, as the Finn suffered an intermittent power loss issue that left him struggling for confidence in eighth [+55.5s].

Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux admitted he made too cautious a start to the event but continued to build speed to end the morning in seventh [+34.1s].

M-Sport-Ford’s trio of drivers including Josh McErlean, Martins Sesks and Gregoire Munster all suffered moments. McErlean and Munster overshot a junction in stage three while Sesks suffered a spin. After hitting a rock in stage four, Munster picked up a front-right puncture that left him 11th, behind McErlean in ninth and Sesks in 10th position.