Yahoo Autos Rovanpera ramps up WRC title defense with Estonia Rally victory
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera secured his third consecutive Rally Estonia triumph with a relentless performance on the FIA World Rally Championship’s super-fast eighth round.
Two years ago, Rovanpera became the WRC’s youngest ever rally winner on the country’s high-speed gravel special stages. Last year, his second victory was key in his surge to a first WRC title, and now he leaves Estonia 55 points clear at the top of the WRC standings after today’s dominant success moved him another step closer to claiming back-to-back championships.
The 22-year-old Finn finished 52.7s ahead of Hyundai i20 N Rally1 driver Thierry Neuville, who initially led after Friday’s opening loop. He seized the top spot later that day before reeling off nine consecutive fastest times in his GR Yaris Rally1 on Saturday to exert his supremacy.
The forecasted rain did not materialize in Sunday’s closing leg, where Rovanpera again remained untouchable, winning all four special stages and gaining maximum Wolf Power Stage bonus points in the process. Such was his dominance that he won 15 of the rally’s 21 special stages.
Kalle Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen celebrate a win that moves them closer to another WRC title. McKlein/Motorsport Images
“An important event, this one,” said Rovanpera. “For the championship it’s a really important place to get good points and this was exactly the plan. It’s my favorite event of the calendar so I knew we had to push here, and it went well.”
Neuville virtually conceded defeat by Saturday night but was upbeat after enjoying one of the strongest fast-gravel rally performances of his career. But he could not afford to cruise through Sunday, with Hyundai teammate Esapekka Lappi completing the podium just 6.8s behind after the event’s 187 miles of special stages.
Outpaced by Kalle Rovanpera, Thierry Neuville could still take positives from his second place in Estonia. @World/Red Bull Content Pool
Lappi’s result marked his fourth top-three finish in the last five rallies for Hyundai Motorsport, which now trails Toyota Gazoo Racing by 57 points in the manufacturers’ title race. Lappi and Toyota’s Elfyn Evans were closely matched, with only 7.3s separating them at the final control.
Teemu Suninen made it three Hyundais in the top five, finishing more than one minute back from Evans after a faultless drive on his i20 N Rally1 debut. Behind him was M-Sport Ford’s Pierre-Louis Loubet, who shaded Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta in the Wolf Power Stage to claim sixth overall by just 0.3s from the Japanese driver.
First time in a Hyundai Rally1 car, Teemu Suninen drove faultlessly to fifth. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
Loubet’s M-Sport Ford teammate Ott Tanak was the pre-event favorite, but his hopes of a home victory were crushed before the rally had even started. Issues in Thursday’s shakedown forced a last-minute engine change and landed him a five-minute penalty before the opening stage. He now trails Rovanpera by 66 points with five WRC rounds remaining and a maximum of 30 points available from each one.
In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Andreas Mikkelsen’s title bid was given a major boost when the Norwegian driver took his second class win of the season.
Mikkelsen, the 2021 WRC2 champ, seized the class lead on Friday when early pacesetter Oliver Solberg retired his car with suspension damage. The 34-year-old Skoda Fabia RS driver remained in control from that moment on and could afford to manage his risk level on the superfast gravel stages, despite Finland’s Sami Pajari mounting a late charge in his similar Fabia.
Pajari outpaced Mikkelsen on all four of Sunday’s special stages, but his surge came too little too late, with Mikkelsen taking the win by 9.7s, marking his second victory in as many WRC starts.
“We took the clever approach this weekend,” said Mikkelsen, who climbed to second in the overall WRC2 standings. “Oliver had great pace on day one and he was maybe a bit over the limit, but we had a constant speed. After he went off, we just tried to maintain the gap as well as possible. On the Power Stage you always want to go flat out, but we were holding back a little bit because the 25 points for the win is so crucial.”
Andreas Mikkelsen’s second WRC2 win puts the former class champ in the title frame again. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
The WRC remains in northern Europe for another fast-gravel event, Secto Rally Finland, next month. Nicknamed the “Finnish Grand Prix” for its high speeds through the birch forests and lakes of central Finland, round nine of the 2023 season is based in Jyvaskyla, Aug. 3-6, and could see local hero Rovanpera move a step closer to retaining his crown.
WRC Rally Estonia, final positions after Day Two, SS21
1 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h36m03.1s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +52.7s
3 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +59.5s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m06.8s
5 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m21.1s
6 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Nicola Gilsoul (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +3m09.9s
7 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3m10.2s
8 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveola (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +6m25.6s
9 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +9m54.1s
10 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +10m03.8s
WRC Drivers’ Championship after 8 rounds
1 Rovanpera 170 points
2 Evans 115
3 Neuville 112
4 Tanak 104
5 Ogier 97
WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 8 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing 331 points
2 Hyundai Motorsport 274
3 M-Sport Ford 195
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