FIA Junior WRC Returns to Action on Rally Estonia

Estonia, 1 Sept 2020: The 2020 FIA Junior WRC Championship will resume service along with the FIA World Rally Championship on Rally Estonia for the first time in the history of both FIA Junior WRC and WRC.

The championship that nurtures the future stars of WRC will use the M-Sport Poland built Fiesta Rally4 which was released earlier in the year. The EcoBoost-powered Fiesta Rally4 is an evolution of the Fiesta R2T19 and represents M-Sport’s commitment to its ladder of opportunity, providing opportunities to young talent on every step of the rallying ladder. The Rally4 also aligns with the FIA’s new rally pyramid structure, underlining M-Sport Poland’s dedication to ensuring the world’s top-flight junior rally championship uses the best two-wheel-drive machinery on offer.

This year marks ten years since the first Rally Estonia was held and in the decade following the event has built up an impeccable reputation with drivers, teams and fans alike. It is evidenced by its meteoric rise in popularity in recent years, culminating in the Baltic event being added to the WRC calendar. The rally recently served as an unofficial preparation event for Rally Finland thanks to its smooth but treacherously fast gravel roads, some of which were built specifically for the rally. 
 
Compared to a typical WRC event, Rally Estonia will be a shorter affair, with 233.40 competitive kilometres spread over three days. FIA Junior WRC sees its first competitive action in almost six months with a 1.28km super special stage on Friday evening allowing 12 hungry junior crews to push from the get-go in order to grab every stage win point possible – a unique characteristic of the championship. Saturday will see this year’s juniors take on two loops across five speed tests with an additional six stages across two three-stage loops on Sunday finishing with a total of 17 stages, with each one offering a valuable stage win point. In total, a maximum of 42 points could be taken home by one driver should they win all 17 stages and the event. All 12 Fiesta Rally4 cars will be equipped with Pirelli Scorpion K6 tyres and have a total of 14 tyres available for use across the rally including shakedown. 
 
Using his own M-Sport-built Fiesta Rally2 and recently signed to Red Bull, the 2019 FIA Junior WRC Champion, Jan Solans, will start Rally Estonia with the 2019 FIA Junior WRC co-drivers champion, Mauro Barreiro. Solans has recently completed a series of intense tests to get us up to speed as possible with Rally2 machinery after a small taste of the action on Rally Spain last year where he made his WRC3 debut.
 
Maciej Woda, FIA Junior WRC Team Director, said:
“We are finally going back rallying! We have 12 incredibly talented and exciting Junior WRC crews heading to Estonia with WRC for the first time. I expect there to be very close competition at the sharp end of the field on this rally as our Baltic and Scandinavian crews know these kinds of roads very well. Even looking at the onboards, I can tell this is a driver’s rally and guarantee there will be a smile underneath every single helmet come Friday. I am really pleased that the hard-working team at M-Sport Poland’s Kraków facility has been able to deliver 12 Fiesta Rally4s for this event, it’s a huge undertaking to do so. This is a Junior championship, but it is on the world stage so there is no question, these guys need the most competitive Rally4 machinery on offer, and that’s what they’ve got. That’s all I can guarantee though, I have no idea who will win this one! We are all back with renewed enthusiasm and energy, some will be a bit rustier behind the wheel than others but, I’m sure everyone will be back in their rhythm once the first loop is done with.”   

Jan Solans, 2019 Junior WRC Champion: “We’re really happy to be back, it has been 10 months without competing since Rally Spain last year. I am so happy to carry out this new programme which is by no means easy. I really would like to thank Ford Spain, Red Bull, the Spanish federation, Pirelli and M-Sport Poland. It’s a difficult rally for us with all the jumps you have in Estonia. We need to show that we want to learn and get on the pace as soon as possible. We did two days of testing on two different stages in Poland, we tried a lot of things on the car and I am now happy with the setup of the car, there are still things we need to improve but we are in a good position. The difference is huge in the Rally2 in terms of establishing a good car set up, in Junior WRC you could not change much on the car. With the Fiesta Rally2, I have so many different setup combinations when you consider I can adjust springs, roll bars, diffs, gearbox and car balance, so there is much more to work on. In a Rally4 car it is possible to still get a good result even if you don’t have the best setup, in a Rally2 car, there are so many factors that need to work together and establishing a good setup is really key to getting a good result.”

52 Tom Kristensson / Joakim Sjoberg
Kristensson claimed victory on Rally Finland in 2019 with supreme performance, targeting stages he was confident on to exploit a margin over his competitors while playing it safe on the stages that posed greater rally ending risks. It turned out to be a masterstroke, with every single one of his competitors having some kind of incident or ‘moment’ while the Swede emerged scot-free with the championship lead. He currently sits atop the 2020 FIA Junior WRC championship after claiming victory on the opening round of the season on Rally Sweden but has only competed on one rally since the snow and ice rally:
 
“I am so happy to be back behind the wheel of the M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally4. I enjoy the rallies with this kind of character, speed and flow. It will be demanding and tough with this fast and shortened rally and no chance for mistakes. We will give it a slow start to come into the car again and then go for it! We’re looking forward!”
 
53 Martins Sesks / Renars Francis
Sesks enjoyed his best Junior WRC result to date with second on Rally Sweden in February, opting for strong points finish rather than targeting stage win points – something he would often chase in 2019 and falter in the process of. When rallying action resumed this year he was hot out of the blocks taking a pair of victories in his Fiesta Rally4 before heading to Rally Liepaja where he duelled for the lead with Junior WRC rival Ken Torn but ultimately ended up retiring due to damaging his radiator after spectacularly over-jumping on the last day of action. His recent experience puts him in good stead to perform well on Rally Estonia:
 
“I’m really excited to be in Estonia, especially Tartu and Rally Estonia! I have very nice memories here from my 2017 Estonian Junior Championship title fight with Ken Torn, we won this rally that year, but this year I’m not taking any pressure, I want to do my own rally and enjoy the amazing Estonian roads!”
 
54 Ken Torn / Kauri Pannas
Hailing from Saaremaa, the same Estonian island as Ott Tänak, Junior WRC veteran Torn claimed a well-respected third on Rally Sweden with a similar focus to Sesks: gain a decent haul of points with no mistakes. In his third season of FIA Junior WRC, he is the only driver on the entry list aside from Kristensson that has stood on the top step of the Junior category podium on none other than Rally Finland. Torn is no stranger to the Estonian roads and knows them well. His recent form on Rally Liepaja, where he won in his Fiesta Rally4 means the Estonian will be one to watch out for from the offset on Friday evening:

“I really enjoy South-Estonia roads – they are always tricky and challenging but very enjoyable at the same time. Hopefully, the rally will be nice and competitive throughout the whole weekend. I also hope to have lots of fun not only for me and Kauri but also for our main competitors. It is still our home rally!”

55 Sami Pajari / Marko Salminen
Nineteen-year-old Sami Pajari, the AKK Flying Finn Future Star award winner, has been busy preparing for his return to Junior WRC action recently, with some impressive performances in a Fiesta R2T19, trading blows with Martins Sesks on Rally Rokiskis and proving he has the pace to challenge the Latvian on fast gravel roads. The Finn made his FIA Junior WRC debut on Rally Finland in 2019 where he impressed a lot of people, taking two stage wins before going off the road and retiring. He claimed fourth on Rally Sweden, picking up a stage win point to underlining he is no one-hit-wonder when it comes to surface-type:

“I’m really looking forward to going against the best in the world after such a long break. It will be also interesting to see, who are really fighting up front for the win because I think there will be quite a few contenders. I will try my best also, but first of all let’s hope we can have a safe rally for everyone.”

56 Raul Badiu / Gabriel Lazar
The rapid Romanian will be seeking redemption on fast and smooth gravel roads after a colossal accident on Rally Finland in 2019 where he and co-driver Lazar were sent somersaulting in the air after a high-speed corner. Badiu was on stage-winning pace on that rally, missing out at each stop line by mere tenths and challenging for a podium position. He returned to rallying action on Sweden, netting a pair of stage wins on his way to fifth. Since the opening round of the Junior season he has competed on three different Romanian rallies in front-wheel-drive machinery with some strong results:

“I’ve missed so much rallying so I think there is no better place to restart the championship than Rally Estonia, a Finland with jumps on steroids. It will definitely be very tricky with such high speeds being no margin for error, but for sure there will be a great pleasure behind the steering wheel driving very fast smooth roads and jumping in all the possible positions”

57 Fabrizio Zaldivar / Fernando Mussano
Making the trip to Estonia from South America via Spain, Zaldivar has squeezed in an intense period of testing on a variety of surfaces while entering an asphalt rally in Spain finishing fourth in his class. He finished sixth on Rally Sweden this year, three spots higher than where he finished on Rally Sweden in 2019 but one position shy of equalling his best result which came on Wales Rally GB in 2019 where he braved the mud and the rain to take fifth and secure eight in the FIA Junior WRC Championship:

“We were inactive for five months, however, the last three weeks have been very intense. Based in Catalunya, we did several days of tests on gravel and asphalt. Thinking about that surface in which we have less experience, we went to compete at the Ferrol International Rally in ‘La Crouña’ – with good feelings and satisfactory results. Now in Estonia, we did 70kms in the south of Tartu looking for the best set-up for the weekend. After five months it’s hard to try to ‘catch up’ in three weeks, but I think it will be the same challenge for everyone.”

58 Ruairi Bell / Matt Edwards
Unlike most British youngsters, the 2019 British Rally Championship M-Sport prize winner has experienced Estonian roads and thanks to his exploits in Latvia is also well accustomed to the flat out flowing gravel on offer on Rally Estonia. Bell has previously called upon former Junior WRC driver Roland Poom to call the pace notes for him on a handful of Latvian rounds. He collected seventh on Rally Sweden, on a surface which he will gladly admit is not his favourite. Bell heads to Estonia following a scary incident in Portugal last weekend, he has had to make a last-minute co-driver change due to his longtime co-driver, Darren Garrod, injuring his arm. Garrod’s replacement is two-time British Rally champion, Matt Edwards, who Garrod guided to his first national title in 2018:

“Rally Estonia promises to be an extremely challenging event. With months out of the car, the high-speed roads and deep ruts will provide a real test of pace notes and confidence right from the get-go. Originally it was Darren and I look forward to the weekend, but we had quite a big accident in Portugal on the weekend and Darren injured his arm. Matt Edwards, who Darren also reads the notes for, will fill-in for Darren and will be the least disruptive choice for us as Matt has been a bit of a mentor for me and coached me at various points though my career.”

59 Pontus Lönnström / Stefan Gustavsson
The young Swedish driver made an impressive debut on Rally Sweden despite suffering a puncture on the opening stage of the rally. He continuously posted top-five times through the rally and managed to bag two stage-win points too underlining his talent and promise to be a future star of the Swedish rally scene. Lonnstrom has been able to keep himself match fit on Swedish gravel, recently taking a Swedish Junior victory on Snapphanerallyt:

“I and Stefan are really looking forward to Rally Estonia, it will be really nice to come back to FIA Junior WRC after such a long break! The roads look very fast which is something I really enjoy, I hope it will be a good event for us and that we will be able to pick up many points before going home to Sweden.”

60 Marco Pollara / Maurizio Messina
Italian Junior Champion Pollara collected a single championship point on Rally Sweden thanks to his tenth place finish on a surface he had little experience on. Heading to Rally Estonia, it will be Pollara and Messina’s first gravel outing of the season after taking to the stages of Rally di Roma Capitale in July where the crew battled among the podium positions but ultimately finished fourth in the ERC3 Junior category:

“Maurizio and I are really happy to participate in this rally and restart with the Junior WRC after so many bad months.  From the videos of the special stages we have seen that they are very fast stages, a little atypical for us Italians but at the same time fantastic and exciting. We hope to score as many points as possible for the Junior WRC classification and try to learn a lot without making mistakes.”

61 Fabio Andolfi / Stefano Savoia
Fabio Andolfi was one of the hotly anticipated drivers to enter Junior WRC on Rally Sweden. The Italian sensation was running in the top-five early on until a dramatic roll put an end to his outing on the opening day of the rally. He restarted the rally and returned to the stages but then damaged his radiator, ruling himself out of the rest of the rally. Since Rally Sweden, the Italian WRC3 winner has had an outing on asphalt in R5 machinery in Italy where he claimed third:

“It’s nice to be back in Estonia after a few years since my last participation here in 2014. After the test day near Varano in Italy with Motorsport Italia, we are ready to restart our challenge in Junior WRC at Rally Estonia. Thanks to ACI Sport, ACI Team Italia, M-Sport and Pirelli.”

62 Enrico Oldrati / Elia de Guio
Enrico Oldrati will have a point to prove on the fast gravel roads after his performance on Rally Finland in 2019 where he rolled. During the lockdown, the Italian focussed his efforts on the family business to help produce a ventilator attachment to snorkelling masks to aid the COVID-19 effort in Italy. Since then the Italian has been preparing for Rally Estonia including testing the new Fiesta Rally4:

“It’s our first race after the lockdown so it’s going to be important to find a proper rhythm through the very fast roads of Estonia. We had one test some months ago to get used to the new Ford Rally4: it seems very good! We can’t wait to join the battle again.”

63 Robert Virves / Sander Pruul 
Robert Virves is the latest up and coming junior driver to come from Estonia having already claimed two wins in the Estonian Junior Championship this year adding his pair of victories from 2019. The Estonian is looking to join a long line of Estonians such as Egon Kaur, Ken Torn and Roland Poom to battle for podium positions in FIA Junior WRC:

“We are really excited to make our debut in JWRC. It’s cool that we can do it here in Estonia and I’m sure it will be an interesting competition in our class since there are many very fast guys at the start line. We are ready and looking for a nice weekend in the forest!”