The Latest Breaking News from Autosport

1. Kalle Rovanpera at his very best is Sebastien Loeb-like

For a sport that takes place at a frenetic pace, the speed of change in motorsport can be remarkably slow at times. Traditions are well established and are often religiously stuck to with very few daring to break the mould. Yet trying something new is important to keep offering fresh…

The reigning world champion made light work of sweeping the fast gravel stages to end Friday with a 3.0s lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville heading into Saturday’s nine stages.

Tanak has largely dominated the times to claim six of the event’s eight stages to date, winning five of Friday’s seven tests including a clean sweep of the morning loop.

Toyota's championship leader Rovanpera and M-Sport rival Tanak headed into the event as the overwhelming favourites to challenge for the win on Estonia’s fast gravel roads.

Toyota will debut its new engine update at this weekend’s Rally Estonia after the reigning world champions elected to use one of its homologation jokers to make the change.

Lappi suffered three failures related to the i20 N Rally1’s prop shaft that ultimately curtailed a realistic shot at a podium, while shining a spotlight on the team’s reliability concerns.

Clubmans Sports Prototype dominator Clarke continued his impressive form by winning the opening two races in Leicestershire, but he was denied another clean sweep after an electrical fault on his Phantom PR22 in the finale.

Zak O’Sullivan and Luke Browning are old rivals. The compatriots have plenty of history, with tensions first coming to a head in the 2020 British Formula 4 finale. As COVID lockdowns left circuits without spectators, O’Sullivan and Browning headed to Brands Hatch tied. By the final race, Browning had a…