Ott Tanak fastest on first pass of home Rally Estonia shakedown

Ott Tanak fastest on first pass of home Rally Estonia shakedown

17th July 2025 0 By Kamron Kent

Hyundai’s home hero Ott Tanak has topped the timing boards on the first pass of the shakedown test at the World Rally Championship’s Rally Estonia. 

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool

Estonia’s very own, Tanak, who had secured the country’s inaugural event back in 2020, took the fastest time on the first pass of Kastre, a 4.08km test. The Estonian topped the timing boards with a time of one minute and 59.2 seconds, 0.4 seconds faster than his closest rival, Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera.

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans was the first one out on the road to set the benchmark time on the first pass, setting a time of two minutes, 0.4 seconds. Evans claimed he was ‘not used to this type of grip,’ despite being out on the road first. 

However, grip is expected to drop away on Friday as the Welshman will be tasked with opening up the road for the pack as per the sporting regulations. 

Sweden’s Oliver Solberg also got his first taste of Rally1 machinery, this season, in Estonia as the Swede will be competing in Toyota’s Rally1 Yaris this weekend. 

‘Crucial point’ in championship says Tanak ahead of home Estonia Rally

How did the first shakedown pass end?

Tanak topped the timing boards ahead of Rovanpera and Evans, second and third fastest, respectively. Solberg occupied fourth ahead of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville to round out the top five. 

M-Sport Ford’s Martins Sesks headed Toyota’s Sami Pajari and Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux, in sixth, seventh and eighth. 

This left Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta in ninth, leading the remaining Ford drivers of Joshua McErlean and Gregoire Munster, who were in 10th and 11th, respectively, completing the Rally 1 runners. Munster was the slowest Rally1 car to pass, 6.4 seconds off Tanak’s pace. 

There are three more passes expected to be conducted before the shakedown is complete ahead of the ceremonial start. The first stage of the weekend will get underway on Thursday evening, a 1.76km sprint on the VISIT ESTONIA Tartu vald stage, and will start at 8:05pm local time. 

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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.

CategoryNews Rallying WRC
TagsEstonia Hyundai Ott Tanak Rally Estonia Shakedown Tanak World Rally Championship WRC

About the author

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.

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