Into the second full day then and with almost 126km’s over nine stages the crews had a big challenge ahead of them. Oliver and Elliott had a good lead of twelve seconds over Ott and Martin. Greg and Louis would open the road throughout the day.
First up was SS9 Raanitsa 1 – 21.45 km and Oliver as fastest from Thierry and Kalle. Ott remained in second overall but with only the fourth fastest time Oliver lead was now 16.6 seconds. The reason for the time loss? He’d lost control of the i20 and hit a bale at a chicane, then stalled the car. Once again the best of the M-Sport crews was Martins who was making the best of his road position over his teammates.
Into SS10 Kanepi 1 – 17.43 km and Oliver was again fastest whilst behind him there was a swap in positions as Ott’s second fastest time saw him move ahead of Thierry and back into second overall. Elfyn’s attempts to move up the leaderboard were not coming together, and he remained in seventh overall.
Next up was SS11 Raanitsa 2 – 21.45 km and Oliver’s amazing run at the front continued with another fastest time from Thierry and Ott. The Belgian moved back into second overall as Ott was a second slower than his teammate. This was not over though as only three tenths of a second separated them.
The final morning stage then, SS12 Kanepi 2 – 17.43 km and Ott was fastest from Oliver and Thierry. It was clear that the last three crews to complete the stages would be the pacesetters. Ott’s pace took him back into second place, but the gap was only four tenths of a second. Elfyn seemed to be finding a little pace, going fifth fastest and edged a little closer to Takamoto.
The afternoon stages started with SS13 Otepää 1 – 11.15 km and Thierry set the pace from Ott and Oliver. The Belgian moved back ahead of Ott but again the gap was tiny at just a tenth of a second. Meanwhile Oliver continued to lead and now had a 22.4 second lead over Thierry.
Back into SS14 Karaski 1 – 11.97 km and this time Ott was fastest from Oliver and Thierry. The Estonian moved back past Thierry into second place. Oliver’s lead remained at 22.4 seconds. Elfyn caught Takamoto a little again, but the gap remained over ten seconds.
Just three stages remained with SS15 Otepää 2 – 11.15 km first up. Oliver set the pace again from Thierry and Ott. The two of them set the same time as well, showing how close they are in terms of pace.
The last proper stage of the day, SS16 Karaski 2 – 11.97 km and Ott was again fastest from Oliver and Thierry. There were no changes in the top ten at all in fact and although Elfyn was quicker than Takamoto again, it was only by a tenth of a second and the gap was not coming down at all by any significant amount.
The final stage of the day was a short blast around SS17 Tartu vald 2 – 1.76 km and Thierry was fastest from Ott and Oliver. The Swede took a 21.1 second lead into the overnight halt.
Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day Two
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Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Oliver Solberg
“It has been another absolutely amazing day today, with consistent speed and no mistakes. It wasn’t our plan to extend the gap – I expected that our rivals might fight back with their improved road positions – but that we were able to do so is fantastic. The car was working really well, and I was just trying to do my thing, still having fun while also learning some new things and trying to control the speed a bit this afternoon. Tomorrow I’ll just try to carry on with the same rhythm.”
“I’m taking the event one stage at a time, just getting in the car and driving – me and Elliott are just doing our jobs and ticking off the stages. Of course, we’re going fast and in some places we had some big jumps which maybe we weren’t expecting, but I’m still learning this car. And the more I learn about it, the more I am loving it! There’s some talk about some rain coming tomorrow – I’m hoping it stays dry, I never drove the GR YARIS Rally1 in the wet conditions!
Kalle Rovanperä
“It’s been a tricky day, much the same as yesterday. These stages always feel super nice to drive and I tried my best in every stage, but the pace was not there to do anything more. On the smaller, softer roads we can see that we have the pace on the split times, but we don’t have it on the wider more hard-packed roads. We’re working hard with the team to try and find that last bit. We will see how the conditions are tomorrow, as some rain can always mix things up, and try to catch some more points.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“Today the feeling was definitely better than yesterday. We found a good direction with the setup to make the car better. The stages are enjoyable, but you just need to be committed to make a good time and it’s not easy with the tricky, narrower sections. The gap has been tight between me and Adrien. Something didn’t feel quite right in the afternoon but I’m sure it will be fine for tomorrow and I’ll try my best to get as many points as I can for the team.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s not been the day we wanted, and we haven’t been able to climb the leaderboard like we hoped we might. The times have been tight between everybody, and it’s been hard to make big differences. Some stages have felt quite OK behind the wheel, but it seems we’ve been missing some speed to challenge the top times. We’ve been experimenting with the setup to find a better feeling and I think we’ve got a good idea of what we want to go with tomorrow, and we’ll give it our best shot.
Sami Pajari
“Today was quite fine I believe. After what happened yesterday, we didn’t really have anything to fight for in terms of the result so it was just about trying to have a good feeling with the car and a good drive and take what we can from here to prepare for the next event in Finland. Considering our road position, which still seemed to be playing a big role, I think some of the stage times were not too bad and we’ll try to continue like this tomorrow.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Ott Tänak
“We made some mistakes this morning, we couldn’t get a good feeling or rhythm in the car so we were not able to go how we normally would. I’m struggling and it hasn’t improved over the day, so I can’t drive the way I should be able to. I know our fight with Thierry got quite uncomfortable for the team at times today, but we also made sure to bring it home. Oliver is in a rally of his own, so we need to push in our fight. There are many new sections tomorrow, the first stage is new for everyone, so it will be interesting.”
Thierry Neuville
“Overall, today was a good day. I had a nice feeling in the car and the stages were amazing. We’re happy to be in third at the moment; we’re not too far away from Ott, but there was nothing we could do to get closer to Oliver – we must be satisfied with where we are. The team has been very clear with us and wants to see both cars at the finish, so I didn’t risk anything this afternoon, particularly with Oliver not taking home any manufacturers’ points. Tomorrow we will see what happens, I’ll be pushing for those extra Super Sunday points to maximise our championship fight.”
Round 08, Rally Estonia
17 – 30 ofJuly 2025
Photographer: Austral
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Adrien Fourmaux
“The stages were really enjoyable today and we were able to have a lot of fun in the car, but we were also happy to have a really nice fight with Taka. There was a lot of sweeping today and every car can gain time from that. We didn’t maximise our opportunity from the cleaning, but catching Kalle would have been really difficult, so we have no regrets. There’s a brand-new stage tomorrow for everybody, which is good because today we were one of the only ones discovering new stages, so it’s an equal playing field for everyone tomorrow. We’re looking to push in the Super Sunday classification to do as well as possible overall.”
Sunday
The final day of this eighth round of the championship will see the crews tackle three stages totalling a little over 60km’s. Can Oliver and Elliott take a first overall win or will one of the Hyundai crews take the top spot?
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