WRC Rally Estonia 2022: Kalle Rovanpera tops out Friday

The World Rally Championship leader, Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera topped out Friday, in Estonia, as the Finn eyed up his fifth rally win of the season.

Thursday

Only one stage lined up the start of the Estonian Rally. The Super Special Stage, in the city of Tartu, was the venue and Craig Breen, in his M-Sport Ford Rally1, was the fastest driver of the evening.

On the dirt track, the Irishman was able to twist and turn his way through the stage with stunning pace. By the end of the stage Breen was one-tenth of a second quicker than Rovanpera who finished second.

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans rounded out the top three with a time that was two-tenths slower than the Irish driver.

The top seven drivers were only separated by a second. However, Breen’s teammate, Gus Greensmith, was the first driver to finish outside that one-second mark, in eighth, as he finished 1.5 seconds off the pace.

Friday

After the first opening stage, on Friday morning, Evans secured his first stage win of the event as he completed SS2, Peipsiaare 1, in 13:24.7. This time placed him at the top of the timing sheets as he beat Breen by 8.5 seconds, who later, on stage four, slipped off into the grass – at a fast left-hander – and broke his steering.

Hyundai’s Oliver Solberg was another driver to suffer misfortunes in the fourth stage. After seven-kilometres, the Swedish driver lost grip and spun around, 180 degrees. Fortunately, the Swede managed to continue on.

However, the championship leader, Rovanpera remained close on the Welshman’s heels as he finished second on the events table after the second stage.

Despite this, Evans was able to hold off the pressure as he went on to secure stage wins in SS3, SS4, SS5 and SS6 before Rovanpera secured his first win on the seventh stage.

The Finnish driver went on to close out the day as the fastest driver and overtook Evans by 11.7 seconds after the ninth stage, the final one of the day. This came after the Welsh driver clobbered some bushes early on in the final stage.

After a climb to sixth-place on the leaderboard, M-Sport Ford’s Pierre-Louis Loubet’s made a mistake which wasted all of his hard work through Friday.

The heavens opened up at the end of the day and after a spectacular jump, the Frenchman found his car on its side, in a ditch. Fans were available to help push the French driver back onto four wheels but the damage had been done.

Internal reliability hindered Hyundai’s Ott Tanak as his co-driver tried to hold a pipe in place – with his foot – to help clear a fogged-up windscreen, as a result of the rain. In the end, the Estonian – on home ground – lost 23.4 seconds.

That’s all for the article: WRC Rally Estonia 2022: Kalle Rovanpera tops out Friday!

Read more WRC here:

• Day Three: Kalle Rovanpera wins in Rally Sweden
• Day Two: Toyota Kalle Rovanpera on top in Rally Sweden
• Day One: Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville tops Rally Sweden
• Belgium completes 2022 calendar

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.