Rovanpera claims third Rally Estonia win: WRC
Estonia, 23 July 2023: Kalle Rovanperä secured his third consecutive Rally Estonia triumph this afternoon (Sunday) with a dominant drive on round eight of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship season.
In 2021 Rovanperä became the WRC’s youngest winner on Estonia’s ultra-fast special stages. He leaves the country two years on 55 points clear at the top of the provisional title standings and a step closer to claiming back-to-back world crowns aboard his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid.
The 22-year-old Finn, with compatriot Jonne Halttunen co-driving, finished the four-day gravel-based fixture 52.7s ahead of Thierry Neuville, who led after Friday’s opening loop in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid.
But Rovanperä seized top spot later that day before reeling off nine consecutive fastest times on Saturday to exert his supremacy.
With the forecasted rain not materialising during Sunday’s closing leg, Rovanperä again remained untouchable, winning all four stages in and gaining maximum Wolf Power Stage bonus points in the process. Such was the level of his outstanding performance that Rovanperä won 15 of the rally’s 21 special stages.
“An important event, this one,” he said. “For the championship it’s a really important place to get good points and the plan was this exactly. It’s my favourite 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 in high spirits after enjoying one of the strongest fast gravel rally performances of his career. He could not afford to cruise through Sunday, though, with team-mate Esapekka Lappi completing the podium just 6.8s behind after more than 300 kilometres of fast-paced competition.
Lappi’s result marked his fourth top-three finish for the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team, which now trails Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT by 57 points in the Manufacturers’ title race. Lappi and Toyota-driving Welshman 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 over one-minute back from Evans after a faultless drive on his i20 N Rally1 debut. Behind him was Pierre-Louis Loubet, who re-passed Takamoto Katsuta on the Wolf Power Stage to claim sixth overall.
Loubet’s M-Sport Ford Puma team-mate Ott Tänak was the pre-event favourite but his hopes of a home victory were squashed before the rally had even started. Issues on Thursday’s shakedown stage forced a last-minute engine change and incurred a five-minute penalty before the opening stage.
Andreas Mikkelsen maintained his lead in the FIA WRC2 category and finished ninth in the overall standings. Sami Pajari, campaigning an identical Toksport-run Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 similar to that of Mikkelsen’s, completed the top 10 and won the FIA WRC2 Challenger category in the process.
Roope Korhonen topped the FIA WRC3 order with Grégoire Munster beating Laurent Pellier to FIA Junior WRC honours. Alexander Villanueva won the WRC Masters’ Cup category.
Romet Jürgenson, who is taking part in the FIA Rally Star Training Season, used his home round of the FIA World Rally Championship, to build his experience of international-level competition and promptly won the RC4 category after several local sponsors stepped forward to support his participation.
Secto Rally Finland is up next on the FIA World Rally Championship schedule, the Jyväskylä-based event providing another high-speed gravel spectacle for the WRC stars and their cars.
