Estonian drivers put in some good performances before the home crowd at the opening day of this year’s Rally Estonia, with Ott Tänak (Hyundai) finishing third in the opening Tartu Vald stage and Robert Virves (Škoda) coming in in fifth place.
Tänak’s teammate and reigning world champion Thierry Neuville (Belgium) won stage one on Thursday evening.
Round eight of the 2025 season, Rally Estonia returns to the full WRC calendar after a year’s absence, when its place was effectively taken by Rally Latvia. The race has been held in South Estonia since 2010, becoming a full WRC stage a decade later.
This year’s route totals 20 stages over 308.35 km, and as is traditional with WRC events, Thursday featured a shakedown run (won by double world champion and Toyota driver Kalle Rovanperä of Finland) and a short stage proper, in front of spectators.
2019 champ Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja enter the race with great momentum after winning Rally Greece at the end of last month, his first win of this season. “We’ve had three tough rallies behind us, where we showed strong performances,” he said before his home rally, which is followed by the near-home Rally Finland.
Read more: ERR.EE
