Rovanpera wins Rally Estonia: WRC
Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen have made it five wins in this season’s FIA World Rally Championship and their seventh in total with their second victory on Rally Estonia.
After scoring their first WRC career triumph in Estonia 12 months ago, the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT pair moved in front on Friday’s final stage and steadily pulled clear of their rivals to take top spot in their hybrid-powered Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
They underlined their dominance by taking the rain-hit Wolf Power Stage with a winning margin of 22.5s to secure outright victory by 1m00.9s ahead of team-mates Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin. Home heroes Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja completed the podium for the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team.
With seven rounds run, Rovanperä and Halttunen head the provisional championship standings by 83 points. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT head the provisional Manufacturers’ order by 87 points.
In the FIA WRC2 category defending champion Andreas Mikkelsen (Toksport WRT Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) fought off Teemu Suninen’s late charge to take his third win of the season after Suninen reported his Hyundai Motorsport N-entered i20 N Rally2 dropped on to two cylinders during the final stage.
The day report, including details of the FIA WRC3 Junior winner, and the post-event press conference transcript will follow.
