Ott Tänak lived up to his billing as pre-event favourite to lead the FIA World Rally Championship’s restart event at Rally Estonia on Saturday night.
Driving on home roads, Tänak shrugged aside the series’ six-month Covid-19 lay-off to head Estonia’s first world rally by 11.7sec.
On a superb day for his Hyundai Motorsport squad, team-mate Craig Breen held second in an identical i20 World Rally Car.
Estonia became the 33rd country to stage a championship round as the series reached a landmark 600th event since it began in 1973.
Tänak celebrated by taking an iron grip on the blisteringly fast sandy roads on which he developed his career.
Craig Breen pushed Tanak hard and is in second place for Hyundai.
Teenager Kalle Rovanperä grabbed the lead in this morning’s opening speed test.
Tänak was only fourth after being hampered by a soft tyre, but charged to the front on the next stage and built a 6.8sec mid-leg margin over Breen.
The repeated roads were rougher this afternoon, but Tänak doubled his lead before throttling back, content to have won three of today’s 10 stages.
“This afternoon, especially, the middle stages were really rough,” he said. “I know I can’t risk anything, I need to come through if I want to fight for the championship. It’s been a demanding and tricky day, so high-speed and rough.”
Kalle Rovanpera lost time on stage three when a rear tyre delaminated.
Breen’s part-time programme brings less chance to impress, but the Irishman laid claim to being driver of the day. He won two stages and was second on three more. “You feel a super-hero on some of these stages, they are some of the fastest I’ve driven,” he said.
Hyundai was on course for a clean sweep of the top three as Thierry Neuville was on Breen’s heels. But his i20 bounced out of a rut, swiped a bank and smashed the rear right suspension, leaving the Belgian stranded.
Championship leader Sébastien Ogier replaced Neuville in third. The Frenchman, driving a Toyota Yaris, won two stages but was hindered by two tyres delaminating and a final test stall.
Ogier trailed Breen by 17.0sec and headed team-mate Rovanperä by 6.2sec. The young Finn’s early lead vanished with a puncture which relegated him to eighth, but he recovered to snatch fourth from fellow Yaris driver Elfyn Evans in the final stage.
Strict COVID-19 rules are being enforced on the WRC's return in Estonia.
Evans was third initially but struggled to retain his rhythm and tyre troubles saw him slide back to fifth. The Welshman had 25.1sec in hand over team-mate Takamoto Katsuta, the Japanese youngster belying his lack of experience to stay on course for a career-best sixth.
Sunday’s final leg follows a similar format, with two identical loops of three stages south of Tartu adding up to 84.94km. The rally ends at the Kambja Wolf Power Stage, which features bonus points to the fastest five drivers.
*Note: Kalle Rovanpera was later penalised one minute for a breach of parc ferme rules. Co-driver Jonne Halttunen removed the radiator blanking plate from the front of the pair’s Toyota Yaris WRC inside a time control, which is not allowed.
Rally Estonia leaderboard after SS11*
POS
CLASS
DRIVER
CAR
GAP
1
RC1
Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja
Hyundai
1h15m08.4s
2
RC1
Craig Breen, P.Nagle
Hyundai
11.7s
3
RC1
Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia
Toyota
28.7s
4
RC1
Kalle Rovanpera, J.Halttunen
Toyota
34.9s
5
RC1
Elfyn Evans, S.Martin
Toyota
36.8s
6
RC1
Takamoto Katsuta, D.Barritt
Toyota
1m01.9s
7
RC1
Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm
Ford
1m41.7s
8
RC1
Teemu Suninen, J.Lehtinen
Ford
1m50.9s
9
RC1
Pierre-Louis Loubet, V.Landais
Hyundai
2m15.2s
10
RC1
Gus Greensmith, E.Edmondson
Ford
3m03.1s
11
RC2
Oliver Solberg, A.Johnston
Volkswagen
5m02.9s
12
RC2
Mads Ostberg, T.Eriksen
Citroen
5m26.4s
13
RC2
Kajetan Kajetanowicz, M.Szczepaniak
Skoda
5m31.8s
14
RC2
Jari Huttunen, M.Lukka
Hyundai
5m46.4s
15
RC2
Nikolay Gryazin, K.Aleksandrov
Hyundai
6m04.2s
16
RC2
Adrien Fourmaux, R.Jamoul
Ford
6m11.9s
17
RC2
Marco Bulacia Wilkinson, M.Der Ohannesian
Citroen
6m23.6s
18
RC2
Pontus Tidemand, P.Barth
Skoda
6m24.8s
19
RC2
Eyvind Brynildsen, I.Minor
Skoda
6m54.9s
20
RC2
Nicolas Ciamin, Y.Roche
Citroen
7m05.3s
21
RC2
Yohan Rossel, B.Fulcrand
Citroen
7m51.6s
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