Thierry Neuville takes overnight lead at WRC Rally Estonia
17th July 2025Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville has taken the overnight lead at the World Rally Championship’s Rally Estonia, ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans and teammate Ott Tanak.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
The action officially got underway in Estonia on Thursday evening with a short 1.76km test, VISITI ESTONIA Tartu vald 1, which served as the sole stage on the opening day.
It was Neuville who set the pace with the quickest time on the board, a one-minute and 42.9-second run through the course. The defending world champion was 0.5 seconds faster than his closest rival, Evans, who sat in second, a tenth ahead of third-placed Tanak.
Evans took a souvenir to the stage end control after he had a brush with a hay bale on the stage; the small sampling of hay was stuck to the edge of his right-side fender, just under his headlight.
Ott Tanak fastest on first pass of home Rally Estonia shakedown
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera led the team’s remaining drivers, Takamoto Katsuta, Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari, in fourth, sixth, seventh and 10th. Solberg held a temporary lead on the Tartu vald stage, as the Rally1 runners began their sprints, but he was soon pipped by Katsuta, the first to beat the Swede’s time.
Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux led the remaining Rally1 drivers in 12th, ahead of the M-Sport Ford crews. Joshua McErlean led the way for the Cumbrian-based team in 13th, ahead of Gregoire Munster and Martins Sesks, in 14th and 17th, respectively.
The action will resume on Friday with seven stages making up Day Two of the event, starting with the Peipsiääre 1 24.35km test, which will get underway at 9:16am local time.
Read more WRC here:
- Ott Tanak fastest on first pass of home Rally Estonia shakedown
- Evans hoping for some rain to help open the road at Rally Estonia
- WRC Rally Estonia: the latest weather forecast
- WRC Rally Finland: Entry List
- Toyota to debut GR Yaris Rally2 H2 Concept at Rally Finland
- WRC 2025 half-season report: Sami Pajari
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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.
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.
