Onto Saturday then and there were 126 kilometres over eight stages for the crews to tackle. Jon and Shane returned to the action and would open the road throughout the day. What would the day hold?

 

Well, it was straight into the action with SS11 Parkkola 1 and Elfyn was the pacesetter, going fastest from Sami and Seb. The Welshman had nibbled a few seconds from Seb’s lead which was encouraging, bringing the gap down to thirteen seconds. Sami who held third overall also closed the gap a little. There was a change in positions in the lower top ten as Takamoto passed Josh for seventh overall.

 

The second of the four stages in the morning loop was SS12 Päijälä 1 and Sami set the pace from Seb and Elfyn this time. All the drivers said how much they’d enjoyed this particular stage. Further back, Adrien was focusing on closing the gap to Martins who held fifth overall and the Frenchman reduced the gap by almost seven seconds to the Latvian.

 

Sami made it two in a row, going fastest in SS13 Västilä 1 from Elfyn and Seb as the top three continued their front running pace. Meanwhile the fight between Martins in fifth and Adrien in sixth the Latvian kept the time loss to a minimum, only losing 1.7 seconds and the gap was now twelve seconds.

 

The final stage then before the lunchtime service break, SS14 Leustu 1 and Seb was fastest from Sami and Takamoto, but this was not the whole story of the stage. Firstly, Martins crashed out of the stage at around 1.6 kilometres into the stage and they were out for the day. Jon who was opening the road had a wide moment but managed to finish the stage. Finally, Elfyn, who’d almost finished the stage ran wide, dropping the left rear into a ditch which sent the car into a triple roll, finally finishing on it’s wheels. The car was still running, and he got going again, only to drive forwards into the ditch. The spectators who amazingly included Elfyn’s dad came to help out, getting the Yaris out from the ditch and Gwyndaf directed his son to the best exit from the field, back onto the stage and he’d lost almost two minutes, yet was still holding fifth place. Oliver was the one to benefit moving into third overall.

After the service break came SS15 Parkkola 2 and Sami was fastest from Elfyn who’s car had been rebuilt during service and Oliver Rally leader Seb was fourth and maintained a good lead of just over twenty seconds. Elfyn who of course was fifth but eyeing up Adrien’s fourth position closed the gap to the Frenchman, now just a little over six seconds back.

 

Onto SS16 Päijälä 2 and it was another stage win for Seb by just two tenths of a second from Elfyn whilst Sami was third fastest. Elfyn’s pace had edged closer to Adrien, the gap now just over four seconds. Meanwhile Josh was doing the best to keep Thierry behind him as the Belgian was edging closer for seventh place.

 

There was huge drama at the end of SS17 Västilä 2 though, after Sami, Elfyn and Oliver had already finished the stage and held the top three fastest times. Seb sadly crashed out of the lead at just over 18 kilometres into the 19-kilometre stage. The stage was red flagged, and a helicopter was brought in to take Seb to hospital. This all meant that now Sami was leading from Oliver, whilst Adrien was up to third, yet Elfyn was on the same overall time as the Hyundai driver.

 

The final stage of the day then, SS18 Leustu 2 and Elfyn was fastest from Sami and Oliver, The Welshman’s pace took him into third overall as Adrien’s hold on the position came to an end after just one stage. The other Hyundai crew Thierry and Martijn were moving up though as they passed Josh for what was now sixth place.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top twn.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It has been a crazy day with a lot of different things happening, and suddenly we find ourselves in the lead tonight. The morning was really enjoyable; I was having maybe the best time that I’ve ever had behind the wheel of a rally car, driving these beautiful stages with the best car in the world. After Elfyn’s roll we moved up to second and thought the gap to Seb was too much to catch, so I just tried to keep enjoying and keep some flow in my driving. Then Seb went off, and the most important thing is that both he and Julien are OK. It shows that things can change very quickly, and we still have two stages to do tomorrow, so nothing is decided yet.”

Oliver Solberg

“My feeling was good in the first stage this morning, but I had some issues hearing my pacenotes in the next one. The gap to those in front became a bit too big and I didn’t want to take too much risk, so the plan was to try and preserve our position and see what happens. Then Elfyn had his roll and later Seb and Julien went off – I’m glad that they are both OK. Tomorrow will be a new day and a new fight, and we’ll do the best we can to secure some valuable points.”

Elfyn Evans

“Today started pretty well with a good feeling in the car. Unfortunately, we got caught out in the last stage of the morning, running a bit wide into a ditch and rolling multiple times. A huge thanks to the team who did an incredible job to put the car right in service; it was brilliant all afternoon and that allowed us to fight and gain back positions. The main target was fourth, and that became third after what happened to Seb and Julien; I want to wish all the best to them this evening. Tomorrow we’ll be trying our best like always.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today’s stages were very challenging, and you needed big commitment and confidence. After the time lost yesterday, our main focus was on trying some different things with the car setup. It’s hard to find a big step forward, but the times in the afternoon were not too bad. Hopefully what we found can work well tomorrow and we’ll try to get some more points. I feel sorry for what happened to Seb and Julien and I’m glad to hear they are OK.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“It’s been a bit of a crazy day for us, with a lot of drama on the stages. We started in sixth, were fourth by midday, then made it into podium positions before losing it again. I have no regrets though, I gave everything I had in the afternoon loop, but the later cars were able to go much faster and we lost third to Elfyn. Even so, I am really pleased with today. I felt good in the car, so let’s see what is possible tomorrow. It won’t be easy with a 3.8-second gap to Elfyn, but our target is to find some more speed than him.”

Thierry Neuville

“It has been a long day for us, with not much for us to play for. We wanted to catch two positions – Taka and Josh – but in the end we could only manage to overtake Josh with a push on the final stage, which was definitely the nicest of the day. It was the maximum we could do as we look ahead to tomorrow, where hopefully we can score some Super Sunday points. It will be difficult, as we have seen today that the cleaning makes a difference, and running at the front we struggle for grip, but it is important we take as many points as possible from a challenging weekend.”

 

Classification after Day Two

1	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:00:38.0
2	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+46.4
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:36.3
4	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+1:40.1
5	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:54.5
6	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+3:52.9
7	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+3:54.4
8	J-M. Latvala	J. Hänninen	Toyota GR Yaris	+6:50.8
9	T. Suninen	J. Hussi	Toyota GR Yaris	+7:01.1
10	R. Virves	J. Viilo	Skoda Fabia RS	+7:04.2

Sunday

The final day will see Martins and Renars return to the action after the M-Sport team rebuilt the Puma in four hours. They will therefore open the road on the final two stages which are thirty kilometres in length. Will there be any final drama in them?

The first day of action on the amazing roads in the Finnish forests and the crews had 130 kilometres over nine stages. There has been a single stage run on Thursday evening and the top three was Adrien then Thierry and Seb.

 

Straight into the action with SS2 Laukaa 1 and Seb was fastest from Esapekka and Adrien. The Frenchman’s pace gained him two positions and put him and the returning Julien into the lead from Adrien and Alex, whilst Thierry and Martijn were third. Championship leaders Elfyn and Scott were fifth after dropping behind Esapekka who’d found some pace after a huge amount of preparation for this rally.

 

Onto SS3 Saarikas 1 and it was a stage win for Sami from Seb and Thierry. It had been a good start to the event for the Hyundai crews as well. Sami’s pace lifted him and Marko into third overall and was only four seconds behind the leader who was Seb. Sadly, we lost Jon and Shane in this one as they slid off the road and could not get back on, even with some help from spectators.

 

Next up came SS4 Sydänmaa 1 and once again Seb was fastest from Sami and Elfyn. The Finn and Welshman both gained positions moving into second and fifth respectively. Unfortunately, we lost Esapekka and Enni as the car slid wide and was sent into a roll, before finishing on its roof. They were out for the day.

 

The final stage of the morning loop was SS5 Hoho 1 and it confirmed Toyota’s dominance after winning all the morning stages. It was Seb again who delivered this pace from Adrien and Oliver. Adrien’s pace took him into second overall, whilst Oliver was also finding some pace and moved into fourth. Further back Takamoto and Martins both gained positions as well, going into sixth and seventh. It was a painful second stage in a row for Hyundai as Thierry hit something and damaged the front right suspension. The Belgian lost over a minute and a half finishing the stage. However, they made some repairs and got back to the service park meaning they could at least continue in the afternoon.

 

After the service break came SS6 Laukaa 2 and Sami set the pace from Oliver and Seb. Sami passed Adrien after the Frenchman was only fourth fastest.

 

SS7 Saarikas 2 saw the rain arrive in a big way for the later crews meaning the first two into the stage had the best conditions. Elfyn was fastest from Takamoto and Sami. This just showed the conditions were way harder later. With big heavy rain falling and Oliver lost almost a minute. Elfyn’s pace lifted him into third overall, and less than ten seconds from the leader.

 

Into SS8 Sydänmaa 2 and Oliver made the best of the conditions as Elfyn was still opening the road and had the worse of the rain in this one. Martins was second fastest whilst Seb was third. It was a painful stage for Takamoto who lost over two minutes with a fogged-up windscreen for half of the stage and Sami who didn’t lose so much and was thirty-four seconds down. His teammate, Elfyn passed Sami for second overall but with Seb having the best conditions they took a healthy 26 second lead.

The last forest stage then of the day SS9 Hoho 2 and Adrien showed what their car was capable of with the fastest time from Oliver and Martins. The Latvian in the M-Sport Puma was really finding some form towards the end of the day. Elfyn trimmed Seb’s lead a little to 18 seconds.

 

It was two stage wins in a row for Hyundai in SS10 Harju 2 with Thierry going fastest, but with an identical time as Takamoto whilst Elfyn was third, just three tenths back.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top ten.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“We started this morning with the plan to push because rallies like this are usually fought with very small gaps. It’s important to be in a good rhythm right away and we had a good morning, but it was still very close. This afternoon with the rain that came was a different story: then it was about trying to survive those conditions without losing too much time. It seems we managed it quite well as we increased our lead, so that’s very positive, but I’m sure the others will keep pushing and we will still have a fight on our hands for the rest of the weekend.”

Elfyn Evans

“We made a decent start this morning; the grip was changing a lot from corner to corner but the driving felt pretty committed. Then the rain arrived this afternoon and we took advantage on the second stage before the conditions deteriorated. On the next stage we got the rain pretty heavily at the start, so that was tricky to navigate, but it’s been a difficult afternoon for many people so we’re happy to get through it in this position. Seb’s had a great day and it’s a big gap to try and catch, but it’s still relatively early days in this rally and we just need to keep doing our best.”

Sami Pajari

“The morning loop was pretty decent for us, but we still had room to improve, and we tried to step up our game for the second loop. We won the first stage of the afternoon, and even in the second one when the rain came we could close the gap to Seb to just a few seconds. Then the third stage of the loop changed everything. It was really demanding for everyone, and for some reason visibility was very difficult for us and we lost a lot of time. Anyway, we are still in a podium position and the fight is still on.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been a pretty crazy day. This morning I never quite found the perfect feeling, but I tried to not over push and to stay in the mix. In the afternoon I felt much more comfortable, and then the heavens opened. I think we were a bit unlucky with exactly when the rain hit and when it was most intense, but we fought back later on with good speed. I’m still quite happy with our day and anything can still happen, so we keep fighting.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It has been a frustrating day. This morning I was struggling for confidence but together with the team we changed quite a lot and in the afternoon the feeling with the car was much better; it was quite a big step. Unfortunately, in the third stage of the loop we got a lot of mist on the screen and struggled to see anything. The main priority was to stay on the road, and we lost more than two minutes. I think it was quite unlucky but there’s still two days to go and we will keep pushing.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“We had good pace today, but we went from second after the first loop to sixth overall, which is quite disappointing. The rain was incredible, I was struggling to see 20 metres in front of the car, and we were just aquaplaning on the roads. I tried my best to not make any mistakes, but time flies at this rally and it is impossible to catch it back when you lose it. I will try to take fifth place and wait and see what happens to those ahead. When the conditions were mud, and no water, it was really enjoyable, but the risk of aquaplaning is a nightmare.”

Thierry Neuville

“I feel we were really unlucky today. We made a small mistake with a slightly too optimistic pace note and lost the rear of the car. We ran wide and caught a stone, but thankfully we made it back and the mechanics were able to fix the car. It was running very well this afternoon, but then the rain came and hit us very hard. I think myself; Adrien and Oliver were the most punished by it, and we lost a tremendous amount of time. The rally isn’t over – we’re aiming to catch two more positions, and then we will see what else is possible.”

Esapekka Lappi

“During a high-speed section, I braked a bit late, although I thought I was still able to slow the car down. I tried to turn in and make a cut on the corner, but that didn’t help, and we ended up with the rear of the car in the ditch on the exit. I thought we might have got away with it, but then the skirt lifted, and we rolled. It’s bad luck that how we landed caused damage to the roll cage, and now we’re not able to restart. It’s a shame for it to end this way, especially as we were demonstrating good speed, and we were satisfied with the preparation we did for Finland.”

 

Classification after Day One

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1:03:47.4 2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +16.3 3 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +26.7 4 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +41.3 5 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +1:04.9 6 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:24.0 7 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +2:29.0 8 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:30.7 9 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:36.2 10 R. Virves J. Viilo Skoda Fabia RS +3:08.7

Saturday

The second full day of stages in Finland will see the crews tackle eight stages over 125 kilometres. It will be a huge challenge and it will be interesting to see how things go for the championship challengers.

The fast rally section of the season is underway for sure with this year’s visit to the beautiful and quick roads in Finland. Elfyn and Scott increased their lead in the championship at the end of the last event in Estonia and will open the road again on Friday’s stages.

In terms of the stages, this year sees the crews face twenty stages over 316 kilometres. Thursday has shakedown in the morning with the first stage in the evening, then Friday sees stages two to ten totalling almost 128 kilometres. Then Saturday has stages eleven to eighteen totalling just over 126 kilometres and then Sunday has just the final two stages of 30 kilometres each giving a 60-kilometre total final day.

Let’s hear from the drivers!

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“Rally Finland is one of my favourite events on the calendar. It’s an amazing sensation to drive these Rally1 cars on those roads, and in terms of pure driving thrills, nothing else beats it during the season. You need to be able to find a good rhythm and a good feeling with the car to be competitive, but when everything’s working well, it can give you great confidence and enjoyment behind the wheel. I’m looking forward to it as always and hoping for some conditions that are more in our favour and enable us to be in the fight from the start of the weekend.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Rally Finland is like a second home rally for me. I moved to Finland when I started rallying and learned pretty much everything I know there, and I still have many friends in Jyväskylä. I have many great memories from the rally – I made my WRC debut there 10 years ago – and to finish second to Kalle last year was very special for me. I was very happy that he could win, but I hope I can go one better. It’s a very demanding rally: you have to be fully committed straight away, and you need full trust in your pacenotes and the car. But I have a good feeling and will try my best.”

Sami Pajari

“To win Rally Estonia was amazing, and a feeling that is still sinking in. There was not much time to celebrate or relax, as two days after the rally we were already testing for Rally Finland. Like Estonia, this is one of my favourite rallies, but it’s even more special to be able to compete at home in front of all my family and friends and a lot of fans cheering for us. The stages are beautiful, and I really enjoy driving them. Many will be expecting that we can win again; we can’t underestimate the competition, but we of course hope that we can make it happen. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Finland is one of the homes of rallying and one of the most enjoyable rallies to drive. It’s also one of the most challenging to win, especially against fast drivers from the north of Europe, and it’s a big honour to have been able to achieve that a couple of times in my career. Rally Estonia was not easy for us driving on those roads for the first time after five years away, but at Rally Finland we will have a higher target in mind as I’ve been there the last two years and been competitive, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Oliver Solberg

“Rally Finland is something very special. It’s a rally that every driver wants to win at some point in their career because it’s such a unique challenge. The way that the stages flow, with the speed and the crests and the jumps, feels amazing. I’ve had some good rallies there in the past in Rally2 cars, but I’m sure that my first Rally Finland driving for TGR-WRT as the home team, in such a great car in such a fast rally, will be my most special experience there yet. After a good, consistent rally in Estonia, it would be great if we can finish on the podium again.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“There are a lot of similarities between Estonia and Finland, but for me the biggest difference is the surface. Estonia is softer and more gravelly, whereas Finland has much higher grip, so sometimes it feels a bit like driving on tarmac. There are also more crests and blind corners. We learned a lot in Estonia and still have a little room for improvement, so we’ll be working to make the car even stronger ahead of Finland. Experience always helps, but many of the drivers know these roads extremely well and have the advantage of local knowledge. Our goal is the same as it was in Estonia: to fight for victory, be in the battle from the very first stage, stay out of trouble and have a perfect weekend.

Adrien Fourmaux

“Rally Finland is a unique event and one of the true classics of the WRC. It’s not just about driving flat out – you have to commit over the crests and jumps, making sure you land the car perfectly to carry speed into the next corner. The podium we achieved in Estonia gives us confidence heading into Finland. Last year we were fighting for second and third with Thierry until we both suffered punctures after hitting the same rock on Saturday, so I believe we can be strong this year as well. We have a good road position, completed a positive test in Finland, and we’ll be pushing hard. I’m confident we can fight for another podium.”

Esapekka Lappi

“It will be nice to be back at my home rally, even if I probably don’t have an advantage after missing the event last year. At rallies like Finland, experience counts for a lot because the regular competitors know from memory how much speed they can carry into every corner and crest. There are some new stages this year, so everyone starts with a slightly cleaner slate, which should help us to have better chances. After Estonia, the goal is simply to improve, have a stronger weekend and be closer to the front.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Finland is always one of the highlights of the season and one of my favourite rallies on the calendar. Driving these incredible Rally1 cars over the famous Finnish roads is something every driver dreams of. We’re looking to build on the positives from Estonia and continue making progress throughout the weekend.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m looking forward to the ultimate rally experience with the final year of Rally1 cars. I’ve only done Finland once before, which was 10 years ago, so it will certainly be a tough challenge to be on the limit from the word go. But we will certainly give it our best and build on our positive pace from Estonia.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“After seeing some good pace from us in Estonia, I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in Finland. Estonia was great preparation, it has a lot of similarities to Finland, and I think we will be able to be competitive next week.”

In WRC2 we have some crews from both Toyota and M-Sport competing.

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

“I’m looking forward to this Rally Finland. It’s always a special rally for me as my second home rally. I’ve been living in Jyväskylä for five years, so the atmosphere feels very familiar, and the roads are the most beautiful in the calendar. I had a bit of a disappointing rally in Estonia, so I really want to bounce back in Finland. Last year, it was a really good rally and a real turning point for me, so I hope to have the same good feeling and keep that strong pace through the whole weekend to fight against top drivers.”

Romet Jürgenson

“Finland is always one of the highlights of the season – it has a unique character of roads which are always really enjoyable to drive. There are a lot of new stages this year, some reversed stages, so there will be a lot of driving by pacenotes which should suit me well. We will try and improve on last year’s pace, and we definitely want to be a bit better than we were in Estonia, so we have a bit of time now to analyse and improve.”

Mille Johansson

“Rally Finland is one of the highlights of the WRC season and a rally every driver dreams of competing in. The roads are incredibly fast and demand total commitment from the very first stage.

“Our goal is to build our pace from the start, stay consistent, and make the most of every opportunity. The competition is extremely strong, but if we execute our plan and avoid mistakes, I believe we can fight for a strong result. I’m really looking forward to being back with the team again and to be back competing in Finland.”

Summary

Last year Kalle and Jonne took their first victory on home soil, but then retired at the end of last year from the championship and they were the first Finnish crew to take victory since Esapekka and Janne in 2017. Sami and Marko joined the elite group of Finnish crews to take a championship win. Could they do the same this weekend?

Meanwhile elsewhere at Toyota, the news broke this week that Seb’s former co-driver is returning to competition after it was announced that Vincent was not competing due to personal reasons.

It is hard to look past the crews at Toyota for one of them to take victory this weekend, but road position will be very important on Friday and therefore we could look at Adrien and Alex, or perhaps Esapekka and Enni taking victory. You’re probably wondering why I’m not including Thierry and Martijn in possible predicted winners. The Belgian has not really been comfortable on these fast stages over the years. They could take a podium though which would do something for their championship challenge.

At M-Sport Josh and Eoin are hoping to put what they learnt last year to good use and improve on last years seventh overall. Martins and Renars were on place further back in eighth and will take part again this year. What will we see from the Latvian crew? Jon and Shane take part this year for the first time at the top level and will be looking to complete the stages and gain experience for the future.

Let’s see what happens then!

The final day then saw the crews face only two stages, but they were a double run of a long stage over 24 kilometres. Josh and Eoin returned to the action following their mid-afternoon retirement with a damaged engine manifold on their Puma, the Motorsport Ireland backed crew would open the road throughout the two stages.

 

Into SS17 Kääriku 1 and it was a great start to the super Sunday standings as Oliver set the pace from rally leader Sami, whilst Adrien had a fantastic stage and increased the gap to his teammate Thierry from 1.9 seconds to 9.8 seconds. Elfyn was also quick, matching the third placed time set by Adrien. Josh who was opening the road had a small off at a junction, but at least was able to finish the stage.

 

Then it was onto the final stage, SS18 Kääriku 2 the Powerstage and Oliver was fastest this time and Thierry was second with Elfyn third. The final two positions in the powerstage were taken by Seb and Takamoto. Sami and Marko crossed the line with the sixth best time and had taken their first top class victory and what a superb drive from the young Finnish crew. They climbed atop their Yaris and celebrated their victory.

Let’s hear from the drivers then and take a look at the final finishing positions, plus the full points standings.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It’s simply an amazing feeling. ‘Arigato gozaimasu’ to Morizo-san and everyone at TGR-WRT for your support and for trusting in me. Thanks to all my supporters, family and friends who stood behind me even when we had tricky times. I also want to thank myself for not giving up and for continuing to push. We’ve had a good first part of the season and after being so many times on the podium, there was no doubt this result was coming, but it’s never easy at this level. This is one of my favourite rallies together with Finland, and I was just enjoying the driving and everything felt natural. Let’s now enjoy the moment before our home event at Rally Finland.”

Oliver Solberg

“This has been a very good weekend. It was very important for me to have a clean weekend and find a good rhythm and get back the feeling and the confidence. Thank you to the team who have supported through a tough time, and I’m very happy to bring back this great result and to be back on the podium. Sami and Marko have done an amazing job with incredible speed and really deserve this result. Today I was able to turn it up just a few percent and take the maximum points from Sunday, so I’m very happy.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been a lot of fun to be back here in Estonia this weekend driving these amazing roads and this fantastic event; it was definitely the right decision. Congratulations to Sami and Marko on their first win: they were clearly the fastest this weekend, so enjoy it! On my side I was not far from the target I set myself. After five years away from these high commitment roads, I was just missing a little bit, and maybe a few tenths on this final day. Still, we scored decent points for the championship, and we will go to Rally Finland with a higher target.”

Elfyn Evans

“We faced a tough start to the weekend with the stages being so dry and the cleaning effect so clear. In the end, I think we clawed back as many positions as we could and that sixth was realistically the most that was possible. Then, the final day was quite OK for us. I think the rain helped a bit to even things out and we had a pretty good run through both stages. So, we came away with some decent points and now we’ll look forward to Rally Finland.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This weekend did not go the way that we had hoped. We knew that Friday could be difficult with our road position, but our pace was not bad, and I think we were doing our job quite well until we had to stop, and this really affected the rest of our rally, because it was hard to do much from first on the road. It’s very frustrating but nothing is over, and we keep going and keep pushing. We tested some different things with the car for Rally Finland and I hope we have a good rally there.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“It feels very good to be back on the podium, it was a proper push today in my battle with Thierry, on the first run especially and then we had to ensure the result on the second run. Clearly the first run made the difference today because we had different setups, and it was optimised for the first pass and then a bit worse for the second, but we had a really big push on the first one. In the Power Stage, we knew that we had a decent gap; I should have done a little bit better, but overall, it has been a very positive rally, a good start for us on the fast rallies and I hope we can repeat this kind of performance in Finland.”

Thierry Neuville

“We started the rally with some issues, and we couldn’t really get the car working, so that meant we had to swap a lot of things for Saturday, which suddenly helped the performance to come back. We were continually improving throughout the day and closed on third by the end of Saturday, but I was just not quite in my rhythm this morning and we lost out to Adrien, who definitely deserved to take third place, hats off to him. It is still a good result for the team, considering where we came from, and second in the Power Stage was the maximum we could achieve from the weekend.”

Esapekka Lappi

“We had a challenging weekend in which we struggled with the pace. Generally, the car felt fine throughout the days, it was just difficult to understand why the speed and the times weren’t there versus the competition. On the other hand, we were able to gain more information and data on the setups and tyres, plus more mileage ahead of Finland, where we hope to be better.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Mārtiņš Sesks

“All in all, I think it was a weekend with positives. We did a good job on Friday with our limited experience, and looking ahead to Finland, Friday’s performance is a good positive – it has a lot of similarities with Finland. The rest of the rally was about managing; we did okay, but I wouldn’t say great. I’d say it’s good preparation for Finland, where the grip is higher and maybe we can be a bit more competitive there.”

Jon Armstrong

“It was a bit of a tricky start to the rally, we had the tyre debead on the first stage, over the jump, and then we struggled to make back the time we’d lost. But even without that we’d only have gained one position; the difference was the road position we lost going into Saturday, and we don’t know how much we could have gained with that.

“Overall, we’re happy with the pace. When you gauge it against Josh and Mārtiņš in the same car it’s looking quite good, so we’re happy with that, and we’re looking forward to Finland – it’s going to be a good experience in one of these cars.”

Josh McErlean

“It was a bit frustrating, obviously, what happened on Saturday, but our pace on Friday was nice. Sunday was a bit of a struggle starting first on the road, but we’ll keep learning, and we have plenty of positives to take into Finland. It’s a big reset for the team this week, and we’ll push on in Finland.”

Summary

What a drive then for Sami and Marko, with their sixth podium of the year and their first victory for them at the top level of this championship. Twelve stage wins gave them the lead they needed including the first nine stages. This was impressive as they didn’t take a stage win in this event last year. This result means that every Toyota driver has taken at least one win this year and has also brought the Finns into third in the championship.

 

For Oliver and Elliott this was well needed result to take second overall after a number of events which had seen them not get a result after little mistakes had big consequences. The second place points along with maximum points from super Sunday has given them a good boost in the standings.

 

Finally, Adrien and Alex scored third and has taken them onto equal points with their world champion teammates in the championship standings. It was a good result for the French duo after a few poor results, and this was a well-deserved result.

The next event is Rally Finland, also known as the 1000 Lakes rally and the Gravel Grand Prix to be held over the 30 July to 2 August.

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 9

1	E. Evans	177
2	T. Katsuta	152
3	S. Pajari	144
4	S. Ogier	139
5	O. Solberg	130
6	T. Neuville	111
7	A. Fourmaux	111
8	E. Lappi	25
9	H. Paddon	21
10	Y. Rossel	20

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 9

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	464
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	308
3	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	157
4	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	116

Onto the second day then and the crews had nine stages in front of them with a total of 150 kilometres to tackle. Takamoto would open the road courtesy of being the last placed top-class crew with his co-driver Aaron at the end of the Friday’s stages. Meanwhile, Elfyn and Scott would the third placed crew on the road and would be looking to regain the positions they lost on the penultimate stage. Overnight rally leaders Sami and Marko would be the last crew through courtesy of leading the rally and would look to open up their lead from their closest challengers from Hyundai.

 

Onto the action then with SS8 Peipsiääre 1 and Sami picked up where he and Marko left off setting the pace from Oliver and Adrien. Elfyn gained two positions, passing Esapekka for seventh overall. It was not a good start for Josh whose Puma suffered from some sort of technical problem and after pulling off the stage the engine would not restart. They lost almost ten minutes before completing the stage at normal pace.

 

Next up came SS9 Mustvee 1 and Sami was again fastest from yes, Oliver and Adrien. As mentioned Elfyn who was third on the road was showing good pace and although not at the front running pace, he was fifth fastest and passed Martins for sixth overall. The Welshman was helped a little with a puncture for the Latvian, but even without this Elfyn would have passed the M-Sport crew.

 

The action continued with SS10 Peipsiääre 2 and Oliver was fastest bringing his teammates run at the top of the stage winners to an end, whilst Adrien was third behind the Toyota crews. Sadly, we lost Josh before the stage as the Puma was retired with a problem with the exhaust manifold.

 

The final stage of the morning loop SS11 Mustvee 2 and it was two in a row from Oliver from Sami and Thierry. Adrien had a slow puncture for the last five kilometres and was only able to set the seventh best time, but at least he’d completed the stage and was still holding third overall. Elfyn was consolidating sixth overall whilst pulling away from Martins.

 

After the lunch time service came SS12 Kambja 1 and Sami restored himself to the top of the stage times winning the stage from Oliver and Adrien. Thierry was eyeing up his teammates podium position, now only 7.9 seconds behind but saw the gap grow a little.

 

The action continued with SS13 Otepää 1 and Sami once again set the pace from Oliver and Thierry. Adrien was still fourth fastest keeping the time loss to a minimum to Thierry. There was a small overshoot for Elfyn in the stage, but not enough to let Martins back too close.

 

Into SS14 Kambja 2 and Sami was just in the zone as he continued to set the pace this time from Thierry and Adrien. Oliver was only fourth in this one but was looking after his tyres and keeping them from overheating. Thierry’s pace took the gap to Adrien down to a little over six seconds.

 

We saw Hyundai take a stage win courtesy of Thierry in SS15 Otepää 2 as he set the pace from Sami and Oliver. The Belgians pace took him even closer to Adrien, the gap now less than two seconds.

 

The short SS16 Tartu Vald would not have any effect on the overall leaderboard and Oliver was fastest from Thierry and Adrien.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top ten.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It’s been another really good day. Again, I had a really great feeling with the car and we could start with two stage wins this morning. Then Oliver was having really good pace to bring the gap back down a bit. So, we needed to try and step it up for the afternoon and we managed to do that, adding another 10 seconds to our lead. It wasn’t easy with some different stage conditions and difficult tyre choices, but I’m super happy and now we just need to bring it home tomorrow. We don’t know exactly what the weather will be like – the forecast suggests it could be tricky – but I’m looking forward to it.”

Oliver Solberg

“I had a much better feeling this morning; something similar to what we had here last year in terms of the feeling with the car and the speed. Initially I was still lacking a bit of commitment, but then we made another step for the second pass, the balance felt good, and I could push and set some fastest times. This afternoon we were maybe a bit optimistic going with a full set of soft tyres and it didn’t pay off. I didn’t want to force it and just tried to keep driving my own race. Sami has done an incredible performance so hats off to him. There’s still a long day tomorrow which will be very important for the points, and we’ll try to take as many as we can.”

Sébastien Ogier

“We were able to have a good rhythm and good fun in the car again today. Unfortunately, the road was evolving and getting faster with every car, so it was difficult to fight with the guys ahead of us on the leaderboard. I always prefer to have a fight and to be fifth overall is not what we hoped for, but we’re still on for some important points and tomorrow there are quite a few more to catch. The weather is looking uncertain, and some rain could change things and reduce this cleaning effect, so we just have to keep trying our best until the end.”

Elfyn Evans

“We had a good start to the day. With a slightly better road position than yesterday, we had a good feeling behind the wheel and were able to gain back some positions, which was the main target. We then used the afternoon to experiment with a few different setups, which maybe didn’t go in the direction that we had hoped, but at least we have a solid base to fall back on for tomorrow. Even though there’s only one stage run twice, there’s a lot of points on offer and we’ll have to try to be on our best.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It was difficult today to be the first car on the road; it’s been so dry so far this weekend and the cleaning effect is really big. We were just focused on trying to find some positive things for the future and for the next rally in Finland, trying a lot of different things with the car setup in every single stage. Some things were positive, some things not so much, but at least we could gather that information. There’s still one more day to go and it probably won’t be easy, but I will keep trying my best, also for all the fans here in Estonia who have been showing such great support for me.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“Overall, I have enjoyed today a lot, the cars are really fantastic in these kinds of rallies. It’s been a solid day, it’s just a shame that we lost some time to Thierry throughout the day; it was small amounts, but still a little bit each stage. I feel ready for tomorrow, let’s see what the weather will be like, it is still a long day and maybe there will be some rain. It’s really great to have this fight with Thierry because it is good experience with the same cars. The stage tomorrow is very fast followed by some very narrow sections and then some tarmac, so we are going to have to be good for both passes.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a very enjoyable afternoon after struggling a bit this morning. We made some changes on the car, which gave me a lot more confidence overall. We were struggling in first-pass conditions but in the second-pass conditions with the ruts, we had good speed, and I was enjoying it. Adrien was pushing hard obviously, so we had to push hard as well, without taking too many risks and also looking after the tyres. It wasn’t that easy and simple, we were running five soft tyres today but, in the end, I am happy with my choice.”

Esapekka Lappi

“We didn’t have any problems today, but we also didn’t really improve, which is a shame. The team has done a lot of work to try to improve the pace but for some reason, even with big changes, the car just didn’t react. But we won’t give up, we still have some changes planned for tomorrow so we will see how it goes. [On SS12] we slid wide on a really fast left-hander which was tightening and went completely off the road, but at least we know that this exit could be used!”

 

Classification after Day Two

1 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:08:34.0 2 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +25.0 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +52.1 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +54.0 5 S. Ogier V. Landais Ford Puma Rally1 +1:32.8 6 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:02.9 7 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +2:16.3 8 E. Lappi E. Mälkönen Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:42.0 9 J. Armstrong S. Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +3:03.2 10 R. Virves J. Viilo Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 +7:07.2

Sunday

The final day sees the crews tackle only two stages, but they are the longest of the whole event at 24.39 kilometres. Let’s see who sets the pace over these two stages and takes the maximum Sunday points along with the powerstage points as well.

The first full day of action included the shakedown stage before the action started in the early afternoon. Elfyn and Scott would open the road throughout the day.

 

The first stage then, SS1 Raanitsa 1 and Sami set the pace just as he’d done during shakedown earlier from Adrien and Oliver. Elfyn, who was opening the road swept the road clear on his way to seventh fastest and ten seconds down on Sami, but at least he was ahead of Takamoto who held eighth position. Jon in the Puma was setting a really good pace, but unfortunately near the stage end over a jump he landed slightly off-line and damaged a tyre on the front right side, and then suffered bodywork damage to the wing. His teammate Martins was the best of the three M-Sport cars with the fifth best time and was fighting back after a penalty which was given before the action really started. After damaging the car during shakedown, they exited service late by two minutes and was given a twenty second penalty accordingly.

 

The shorter SS2 Karaski 1 followed, and it was a second stage win for Sami from Oliver and Adrien this time, with Martins showing great pace as well, matching the Frenchman’s pace. Oliver’s pace took him into second overall, pushing Adrien down to third. Meanwhile there were a few other position changes as Thierry passed Seb as he moved into fourth place and both Takamoto and Josh passed Elfyn as they moved into sixth and seventh as the championship leader fell to eighth and Esapekka was now ninth.

 

The final stage of the loop, SS3 Kanepi 1 before the tyre fitting zone saw Sami make it three out of three from Adrien and Oliver. The Finn was building a lead over his teammate as the gap increased to a little over four seconds. There were some more changes further back as Josh passed Takamoto for sixth place and Esapekka moved into eighth at the expense of Elfyn.

 

After the short break came the first of the second loop of the day, SS4 Raanitsa 2 and Sami picked up when he left off setting the pace from Adrien and Oliver. It was clear these three had the best of the road conditions as they continued to set the pace at the front. Takamoto repassed Josh for sixth overall in this one.

 

Next up was SS5 Karaski 2 and there really was no stopping the Finn as he set the pace again from Oliver and Adrien. There was a position change for Elfyn as he re-passed Esapekka for eighth and was now just 2.3 seconds behind Josh. Incredibly Seb, Takamoto and Josh all set an identical stage time in this stage.

 

Onto the final proper stage then, SS6 Kanepi 2 and this stage would decide the running order on Saturday’s stages. Sami was again fastest from Oliver and Thierry and again three drivers set the same pace again with the Belgian, Adrien and Martins all setting the same time, as there were some position changes further back. Firstly, Takamoto suffered a puncture as the tyre just exploded on a straight piece of road. The pace of the Latvian gained him four positions and he jumped to sixth place, whilst Esapekka also gained two positions moving into seventh place at the expense of Josh and Elfyn who emerged in eighth and ninth overall. Takamoto’s puncture saw him lose five positions and he fell to eleventh place.

The special super stage followed, SS7 Elva Linn, but this would not affect the road positions for Saturday and again Sami was fastest from Martins this time and Thierry.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the standings as well.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“I can be very happy at the end of the day. To take a clean sweep of stage wins and be in the lead is really good, and more importantly the feeling behind the wheel has been really great. The driving has just been flowing quite naturally. Of course, we are pushing but I don’t feel like I’m taking big risk and it feels under control. The morning was super tight with our rivals but in the afternoon we managed to make a bit more of a gap. Still, it’s only Friday. There’s two long days still to go, so no chance to relax yet, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow and will just try to keep enjoying it.”

Oliver Solberg

“Second place is a pretty good position, but I can’t be completely satisfied with the day. This morning it was all pretty close, but the afternoon was a bit more difficult in terms of the times compared to Sami, who has done a great job today. I was struggling a bit with the feeling and to find that sweet spot to be able to push. But we’re not far away and we will keep trying to improve some small things. Tomorrow will be a long day and it will be important to manage the tyres when we’re driving the first and second pass on the same set.”

Sébastien Ogier

“I think it’s been a decent day for us. People know that I will never say I’m happy being in fifth place, but I knew coming here it would be challenging and I think we did a decent job from third on the road after five years not competing here. Sami has been flying today, so well done to him: winning all of the stages is something special. On our side there’s still some work to do to try and improve a bit, work on the car and myself to hopefully be closer to that pace tomorrow and catch some more positions.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a tough start to the rally for us opening the road today with some very loose conditions. We tried to do all that we can, and it didn’t feel so bad behind the wheel. We just weren’t able to put competitive times on the board, and it could be a bit disheartening to see the guys coming faster behind. Thankfully this afternoon with the ruts forming the time loss wasn’t so bad, and tomorrow should at least be a bit better with a couple of cars in front of us.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today didn’t go as expected. It was quite a difficult start already in the morning. We went a bit too much on the soft side with the car setup and it wasn’t working so well in the super high-speed sections. We managed it as well as we could and without losing too much time. Unfortunately, we got damage to two tyres during the second loop and couldn’t continue. It’s very disappointing, but I will just keep trying to do my best over the rest of the rally.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I am very pleased to be third overnight, it has been a good fight today with Oliver [Solberg], and even with Sami [Pajari] at the beginning before he pulled away. I am happy with my driving and the car; it has been a very positive day. Maybe we should have taken some hard tyres this afternoon, which might have helped me a bit more, but there are no regrets. The feeling inside the car has been brilliant, we’re not off the pace, and it’s a dream to be competitive on stages like these.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a bit of a tough day today, but we are going to make some changes before tomorrow’s stage, we will change the transmission and see if everything is working as it should. Then we will see. Those little things, when they don’t work perfectly, can cost you a lot of time especially when you have to reduce your speed and when you don’t have complete trust in the car. We are on the limit, taking a little bit of risk over the jumps – those of us who weren’t flat last year, are basically flat this year – and it’s a tough battle out the.”

Esapekka Lappi

“The driving has not been so challenging for us today, but it has been a bit of a mystery when you look at the times. In testing, we felt really good but today we were very far away. The penultimate stage was a step in the right direction, so it was OK. We changed something with the suspension and the transmission, and it worked because my times were almost matching my team-mates. We will try to do something similar for tomorrow; it might not work for the first pass of the stages, but it might for the second pass.”

 

Classification after Day One

1 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 49:43.5 2 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +14.7 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +16.5 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +24.0 5 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +33.3 6 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +44.7 7 E. Lappi E. Mälkönen Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +46.5 8 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +46.6 9 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +49.8 10 J. Armstrong S. Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +1:04.3

Saturday

What does the second day hold then for the crews? Well for starters, there are nine stages and a huge 150 kilometres. Four are run in the morning before service, then a single stage before the final four run with a break in the middle on them. What will the top ten look like at the end of the day and can Elfyn improve his position and move up into the top five?

The championship returns to the fast roads of Ott and Martins homeland. Now the crews will have eighteen stages over almost 302 kilometres. Last year, Oliver and Elliott stepped from their Yaris Rally2 into the top spec Yaris and promptly took stage win after stage win, ultimately taking their first overall championship win.

 

They would love to do this again this weekend, but they will have some serious competition from their teammates and also those at Hyundai and M-Sport Ford.

 

Let’s hear from the crews and take a proper look at the stages.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“Greece was a challenging event for us, but we can look forward to something completely different on much faster roads in Estonia and Finland. It’s important to find a good feeling and prepare the car as well as possible for these events, and it was helpful to drive a national rally in Estonia last week to get used to the highest speeds once again. If it’s very dry in Estonia then there can still be some cleaning for us to do, but we just need to focus on doing our best whatever conditions we face.”

Sébastien Ogier

“To win in Greece was very important for us. Moving from there to Estonia will be a big contrast, and especially for me as I haven’t driven this rally for five years. I’m looking forward to being back, though. It’s one of the most spectacular rallies of the season, and a well-organised event with a great atmosphere. I enjoyed my test last week, getting back the feeling for high speed, and hopefully we can be competitive. I’m sure that it will not be easy, but I always enjoy a challenge like this and will give it my best shot.”

Oliver Solberg

“I’m really looking forward to going back to Rally Estonia. It’s a very special place to me after we took our first win there last year. It’s a really cool rally that I’ve always enjoyed: with the high speeds, massive jumps and excited rally fans, it’s a lot of fun. We haven’t had the easiest run of rallies recently, but now I’m going back to a rally where I have experience with this car, and I just want to try my best and see what we can do.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“After a good rally for us in Greece, I’ve got a good feeling to move onto very high-speed stages in Estonia and Finland, which are some of my favourite rallies. You have to be very committed in Estonia, especially on the second pass when the road gets rutted, but the margins are also very small at those speeds. All of my team-mates can also be very strong in these rallies, but I will try my best to achieve good results and take as many points as possible.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m really looking forward to these next two rallies in Estonia and Finland: they are my favourite ones on the calendar. I’m pretty happy with how we finished the last rally in Greece after a difficult start, we’re still in a good position in the championship, and at the same time our starting position should not be too bad for the next rallies and should allow us to be in the fight, so let’s see what we can do.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“We’re heading into Estonia with confidence after two gravel rallies where we have consistently shown strong pace and fought for victory. Taking a win and a second place is encouraging, and our pre-event test also felt very positive. We’ve been competitive in Estonia in recent years, and if the conditions stay dry, they should suit us well. The key to this rally is finding the right balance between traction, precision and protection over the huge jumps, while having complete trust in the car. Our goal is clear: to fight for victory and score a lot of points to fight back in the championship.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Estonia is a completely different challenge to Acropolis, instead of rough, slow and technical roads, you’re straight into some of the fastest stages on the calendar, so confidence is everything. I really enjoy this type of rally and we’ve completed a good test to prepare for it. We didn’t get the result we wanted in Greece, but that’s behind us now we are focused on the challenges ahead. Estonia gives us a fresh opportunity and if we can put together a clean and consistent weekend, I’m confident we have the potential to be competitive.”

Esapekka Lappi

“I am very much looking forward to being back in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 again, especially as it will be the last outing of this car at these super-fast events, which is cool to be part of. We used the pre-event test to find the correct balance with differentials, suspension, and downforce. If we nail our pace notes, the rest should be easy. It is hard to know exactly where we are on fast gravel, although the recent results have shown the car has performed well on this surface. My hope is to be fighting higher than the top five.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Estonia is always one of the fastest and most enjoyable rallies of the season, so I’m really looking forward to getting back out there. Greece gave us a solid platform to build from, and the aim now is to carry that momentum into Estonia. I really enjoy these types of events, so hopefully we can keep improving and come away with another strong result.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m looking forward to going back to Estonia, I’ve been there twice in JWRC and also once in ERC with the Fiesta Rally2. The stages are completely flat out and the style of the surface is generally nicer for me as it’s a bit more sandy. It’s a good way to kick off the summer of speed in a Rally1 car!”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“This is the time of the year when we are as close as possible to our home country, and happy to call Rally Estonia our home rally this year. We’re hoping to see a lot of Latvian fans to feel as at home as possible! I’m looking forward to a great result here; I think we have a lot of positives to take from last year and we’re looking at having a competitive weekend in Estonia.”

Romet Jürgenson

“Obviously, our home event in Estonia is one of the highlights of the season for us. There is a bit more pressure as well, but we have a lot of local support from our fans which definitely gives us this extra push to get the maximum out of ourselves and the car.

 

“Looking at last year’s pace, I think the goal will be to be up there fighting with the top guys. The route itself has stayed the same over the last few years, so the advantage for the Estonians is decreasing as a lot of drivers have knowledge of these stages; it’ll be a very even fight with small margins. I’m looking forward to it.”

In terms of the stages this is how the days look over the event.

Friday has seven stages over just under 104 kilometres, then Saturday has nine stages over almost 150 kilometres and then Sunday has just two stages and a total of just under 50 kilometres.

Summary

Road position is going to be hugely relevant this weekend and in particular Friday’s stages. Elfyn and Scott, plus Takamoto and Aaron will have the most tricky road position as the first two crews into the stage, they will be sweeping the road clear of the loose gravel and making the road cleaner and ultimately faster for those further back.

Oliver and Elliott were eighth on the road during the first day last year which gave them a good advantage to set the pace and build a lead. This year they will be third on the road which will make things harder, whilst Seb and Vincent, Adrien and Alex, Thierry and Martijn and finally Esapekka and Enni fill the lower positions in the top ten and will give them the best road conditions.

The action begins with shakedown on Friday morning and then the first stage starts at just after one o’clock local time.

Onto the final day then of this very tricky rally and the crews had four stages and 84 kilometres ahead of them to tackle the challenge was not over by any degree. Jourdain would open the road throughout the day, whilst Jon would follow him into the stage and would still be cleaning the road for the rest of the crews coming behind.

 

First up then was SS14 Aghii Theodori 1, a 25-kilometre stage to start the day. Adrien would set the pace from Seb and Thierry. There was a lead change as Seb passed Thierry, the gap between them just 1.3 seconds! After Elfyn’s problems at the end of Saturday, it was crazy to see him and Scott get another puncture on the first stage of the day, particularly given that they were looking to move up the standings. At least they didn’t have to stop to change the wheel during the stage.

 

Onto SS15 Loutraki 1 the 16-kilometre stage and what would be the rally ending powerstage. Seb was again fastest from Thierry and this time Takamoto. Adrien who had been running and holding third overall suffered a puncture and lost two positions and was now behind Sami and Elfyn and in seventh overall.

 

After a quick service break came SS16 Aghii Theodori 2 and Seb was fastest from Sami and Adrien. There was drama though for Thierry who suffered right-rear and left-rear punctures and lost 53 seconds to Seb, and this meant that it looked likely now Seb and Vincent would take victory. Sami was also moving up as he passed Josh for fourth position after the Puma crew got beached for thirty seconds or so on the edge of the road before getting going again.

 

We came then to the final stage, SS17 Loutraki 2 and it was a stage win for Seb from Sami and Thierry, Takamoto fourth fastest, whilst Elfyn took the final power stage point. This gave Seb and Vincent victory, with Thierry and Martijn second. Takamoto and Aaron finished third as well giving them good points for the championship.

 

Later the same day there were some penalties of a whole minute given to Josh and Adrien for seatbelt infringements. Adrien’s was from stage twelve on Saturday, whilst Josh’s came on Sunday’s penultimate stage. All of this meant that Sami moved into fourth and Elfyn up to sixth.

Here’s the final standings and we’ll hear from the drivers as well.

 

Final Overall Classification – Acropolis Rally

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	3:36:40.7
2	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+58.3
3	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+3:04.8
4	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+5:02.2
5	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+5:55.5
6	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+5:54.9
7	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+6:08.7
8	M. Sesks	R. Francis	Ford Puma Rally1	+8:05.8
9	R. Virves	J. Viilo	Skoda Fabia RS	+9:50.1
10	A. Mikkelsen	J. Listerud	Skoda Fabia RS	+10:52.5

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It feels good to win the Acropolis Rally again after many years. It seems like the Greek gods were with me once more! Like often here, it’s been a very tough rally, particularly for the tyres, so I’m glad that we were able to stay out of trouble this time. It was very close with Thierry and there was no chance to relax, even in the Power Stage because it was very rough. I tried to drive as gently as I could, so I was surprised by the time, but I’m very happy to take the maximum points, which is exactly what we needed.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s very good to finish on the podium after such a tough rally. It was difficult for us in the beginning running second on the road, but we were expecting this, and we had a clear plan to try and avoid problems and mistakes and just manage the situation. It worked out very well, so thank you to Aaron and to the team; we had no issues with the car at all. It’s been a good weekend and I’m looking forward to the high-speed rallies coming up.”

Sami Pajari

“It was a proper Super Sunday for us today and I think we need to be really happy about that. The beginning of the rally was very difficult for us, and it was tricky to recover from that, but I think that we got the most out of it that we could. We managed to make up quite a lot of positions and also take eight extra points from Sunday, so it’s really not been too bad an event in the end and we’re still in a good position in the championship with some nice rallies to come for us.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a tough weekend, in line with what we were expecting beforehand. After a difficult start on Friday, things were actually moving in the right direction and not looking too bad by Saturday afternoon, but then we got the puncture in the last stage. We tried to give it a good go today, but I touched a bank in the first stage which pushed the tyre off the rim. I’m disappointed with how it’s turned out but that’s the way it goes sometimes, and we just have to move on to the next one.”

Oliver Solberg

“I think we did the best that we could today. We at least managed to keep Elfyn behind us in the Super Sunday standings to take one point, but I don’t think it was possible to do more from our starting position. It’s been another blow this weekend and I’m very disappointed; it’s been tough lately with these little mistakes. I just need to keep believing and try to reset and find a better way forward, going into some rallies that I know well and am looking forward to.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“All in all, I have mixed feelings at the end of this rally. I’m obviously very disappointed not to be able to fight for the victory until the very end, but on the other hand I am very happy about our pace and the improvements we demonstrated this weekend. There are a lot of positives to take from Acropolis Rally, and we’ve also scored a solid haul of points. This gives us a good opportunity to get back into the championship fight, which was looking quite difficult for us. The fact that the championship leaders did not score many points is also good for us. With more gravel rallies to come, I hope we can carry this momentum forward.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“I think we deserved much more from Acropolis Rally. While I know it is a lottery, it felt like whenever I pushed I avoided punctures, but whenever I tried to be careful, I would get one. It’s almost unbelievable. In the end, it’s a huge shame, but overall, it has been a positive rally. We had the pace and were fighting for the win at the beginning before our issues. It’s frustrating for the championship, as I had high hopes of closing the gap in the points, and it hasn’t gone to plan. However, there is plenty for us to take into Estonia and beyond.”

Dani Sordo

“It has been a difficult rally for us. It started well, but the puncture on Friday took us out of the fight. We lost even more time with our second puncture on Saturday, and after that we were not confident with the tyres or the grip. In the end, we decided to retire the car before the Power Stage to give the team as much flexibility as possible for the two fast gravel events.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“It’s been really important, I think, to get a result like this – for me and Eoin, and for the team. It’s been a while since everyone’s had a result, and it was obviously a very challenging weekend with the rocks, the puncture risk and everything that comes with that. We made it a little difficult for ourselves going into the last stage, sliding into the ditch on the previous one, then having to push to protect the position for the final stage. But we’re very happy; it’s the best result we’ve had so far.” (These comments were made before they were given the minute penalty taking them down to sixth).

Jon Armstrong

“So that’s the Acropolis Rally finished. The first day went quite well to begin with – we made the most of our road position and got up to third overall with our first stage win. But then we had a technical issue and a couple of punctures, so we had to retire for the day. We spent the rest of the weekend road-sweeping, which was good learning, if a bit difficult after being on such a high the day before.

“There are still plenty of positives to take away, though – the pace we showed from that road position was really encouraging. We’re looking forward to the fast gravel rallies now and seeing what we can do there. It was a tricky one, a case of what might have been, but that’s how the Acropolis can be.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“Overall, I think the rally was okay, in the sense that we didn’t make any big mistakes – maybe we were lacking a little pace on Saturday morning, but otherwise we did a decent job from our side. It was a shame about the issue in service, which cost us time, but the team made a great effort to keep us on track. Now I’m looking forward to the next rallies.”

Jourdan Serderidis

“We had a fun rally, with a wonderful itinerary and some super nice stages. Unfortunately, the mechanical issues we had prevented us from getting the result we’d hoped for. But we still had a very good run, a very good drive, and made good progress with our driving, so on that side we’re quite happy. It’s amazing to drive in front of all the Greek supporters. All in all, still a nice weekend.”

Romet Jürgenson

“Obviously the mistake happened quite early on – that’s squarely on me and it’s unfortunate. But after that, on Saturday, we showed some decent pace and could improve on a few things. On the positive side, the pace was good on the first pass of the new stages, which is driven purely by pace notes, and I think that shows that side is decent. And today, second on the Power Stage as well – so there are these little positives to take. But overall, I’m sorry for the team that I made the mistake. Next time we’re in Estonia, so we’ll go flat out there.”

 

Summary – The Podium

It was a great win for the French crew in their Yaris and it’s brought them into the title fight. It’s fair to say they benefitted from a good road position on Friday and once they got ahead of Thierry and Martijn and then the Belgian’s suffered their double puncture the win was in their hands of Seb and Vincent.

 

For Thierry and Martijn it was a case of what might have been as they battled their old foe again for victory which was then ended early with the double puncture. It was good though to see Hyundai on the pace with their two permanent crews and perhaps in the coming rallies they will make their way to the top step again.

 

Finally, for Takamoto and Aaron, considering they were second on the road through Friday it was a very good drive to third overall, keeping themselves out of trouble. This delivered them a well-deserved podium and great points for their championship challenge.

Onto the second day then of action and the crews faced six stages over 108 kilometres, with four run in the morning, including two stages which would only be run once, then the service break before the final two stages in the afternoon. The Puma duo of Jourdain and Jon would open the road throughout the day as the first and second crews respectively into the stages.

 

First up then was SS8 Ghymno 1 a 19.6-kilometre stage and it was a good start from Seb who set the pace from Thierry and Adrien. Behind the top three, Elfyn was the best of the rest and looking ahead to the crews in front of him, Martins, Takamoto and Josh and in fact the Japanese driver had already moved ahead of the Latvian crew and into fifth place.

 

Into the single run of SS9 Kolines and Adrien was fastest from Seb and Thierry as the trio made the most of their advantages road positions as the last crews to finish the stage. Seb closed the gap to Thierry for the overall lead as well, bringing the gap down to less than five seconds. There was a change in positions as Takamoto passed Josh for fourth in the overall standings after the Irishman was twenty-five seconds slower. Elfyn was edging closer to Martins as well, the gap just under fourteen seconds now.

 

It was back to the top of the time sheets for Thierry in SS10 Menalo Mt 1 a 15-kilometre stage as he set the pace from Seb and Adrien. Meanwhile, Elfyn was on the move after setting the fifth fastest time and he passed Martins for fifth place overall. The Welshman was going well as he’d not just passed Martins, he was also faster than Josh and closed the gap to him in a battle for fifth place overall.

 

The final morning stage then with the single run through SS11 Kefalari before the service break and Seb was fastest from Thierry and Elfyn this time as he beat Adrien by just one tenth of a second. It was a good time from the Frenchman to set the pace as he’d damaged the rear wing on his car somewhere in the stage, just as well there was a service break really!

 

Just two stages remained then as the crews went first to SS12 Ghymno 2 and the first thing to report on was the stage was shortened by 4.5 kilometres to 15.1. This was due to the road near the original start position having deteriorated badly. Thierry was fastest by over seven seconds from Seb with Takamoto third in this one. Elfyn gained one position as Adrien suffered a puncture with the Welshman moving into fifth now and even closer to Josh who now held fourth by just four seconds. There would be drama though which was just plain ridiculous as later crews came through in the WRC2 category. Some spectators were being quite stupid with their behaviour, standing in the wrong places and the stage was red flagged. Frankly, they know who they are and should hang their heads in shame.

 

Now to the final stage of the day, SS13 Menalo Mt 2 and Seb was fastest from Adrien and Thierry. Sadly, there were two crews who suffered punctures in this one, the first being Dani, whose front right tyre failed after hitting a rock in the line at five kilometres into the stage. They decided to carry on and lost a minute. The other crew to have the same problem was Elfyn and it appears to have been in the same part of the stage as well. He and Scott stopped to change the wheel, and in the process lost almost two minutes and they fell to seventh overall. All their good work through the day was undone, but this is the nature of rally. From all of this Adrien was now back into fourth, with Josh now fifth and Sami gained two positions after the punctures for Elfyn and Dani.

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

 

Classification after Day Two

1	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	2:40:18.7
2	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+4.1
3	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:17.0
4	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+3:00.6
5	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+3:01.6
6	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+4:38.3
7	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+4:43.1
8	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+5:17.8
9	A. Mikkelsen	J. Listerud	Skoda Fabia RS	+5:54.6
10	R. Virves	J. Viilo	Skoda Fabia RS	+6:08.5

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I’m really happy with my day. Much like yesterday, I was feeling really comfortable in the car and managing both my speed and the roughness of the terrain. We’re getting closer to the end of the rally; our plan is to continue pushing to stay in first place. We know it isn’t over until you cross the final finish line, and tomorrow is going to be pretty rough – especially in the Power Stage. We have to cross our fingers and continue the job we’ve been doing so far this rally.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Saturday was quite a challenging day. We were trying to manage the risk of punctures as much as we could, but unfortunately on the second pass of Menalo Mt we suffered one early on. We decided to stop and change, knowing we would lose the podium place. However, although we were sixth, we knew we were only 14 seconds away from fourth, so we pushed hard in the last stage. We managed to gain two positions, one on pace and the other as a result of Elfyn’s puncture. It’s a good road position for tomorrow, when everything is still possible. We are going to try and catch Taka, so my target is to go flat out and finish on the podium.”

Dani Sordo

“It is a shame our day ended in the way it did. We had a good stage time on SS12, finishing fourth fastest for the third time here in Greece. On SS13, we encountered rocks in the middle of the road, and we picked up our second puncture of the weekend. Now we focus on Sunday; while there are only four stages, it’s still going to be a long day, and we’re expecting the Power Stage to have a lot of stones. We’ll need to find the balance between pushing for points, and avoiding punctures that could punish us.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I think it’s been a good day for us. In places these roads were nice to drive, and in others it was just about trying to survive the roughness. In this last stage I was planning to push, and then seeing how many others were having trouble in there made me more unsure, but we managed to have a decent rhythm and keep the fight open until tomorrow. I’m happy with what we’ve done so far but the most important day is coming, where we need to secure the best result and extra points are also available. I will keep the same approach and we’ll see what happens.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This morning the first target was to catch the two cars in front of us and we did that in two stages. After that it was just about managing the high risk of punctures, and I think we did quite a good job to get through the day without any problems. It’s nice to be in third overall tonight but tomorrow’s stages are maybe even rougher than today, so anything can still happen, and the main focus will be to finish without problems.”

Sami Pajari

“I think there was not so much more that we could have done today. On some stages we had quite solid pace, on others maybe not, but I think this was mainly down to the conditions because our road position was not great after yesterday’s troubles. We were able to gain a few places after issues for other drivers, and that also makes our road position better, so I think that gives us a chance to try and take a few more points tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans

“The day was going pretty well; we were enjoying the cleaner roads; we had a good rhythm, and we were climbing up the leaderboard. Unfortunately, in the last stage we picked up a puncture. It came quite suddenly after an impact, and we had to stop and change it. It’s dropped us right back to where we started the day so we’ve got it all to do again tomorrow, and of course the road position will not be any easier either, but we’ll fight for what we can.”

 

Summary

Onto the final day then and although there are what appears to be not many stages, with four making up the total, with over 84 kilometres to go including two runs of Aghii Theodori at over 25 kilometres, the challenge remains big!

The first full day of action followed Thursday’s action which had shakedown in the morning and a super special stage in the evening which was won by Seb from Takamoto and Thierry. Elfyn was sixth in the stage. Onto the six stages then for the crews on Friday and of course Elfyn and Scott would open the road throughout the day.

 

First up then was SS2 Bauxites and at 22.97 kilometres it was a real challenge for them all. Adrien set the pace from his teammate Thierry, whilst Seb was third. The pace of the Belgians took them into the lead from their teammates Adrien and Alex pushing Seb and Vincent down to third overall. With such tricky road conditions whilst opening the road, Elfyn and Scott were tenth fastest and fell four positions to tenth overall. It was not a good start for Oliver who suffered a puncture losing almost a minute and a half and twenty-five positions as well.

 

Into SS3 Parnassos Mt another 22.28 kilometres stage and Adrien made it two in a row beating Thierry and Jon! It was a good stage for the M-Sport crews as Josh and Martins we also fourth and fifth fastest. There were some good changes in the overall leaderboard as Adrien now led from Thierry and Seb, Sami moved into fourth, Jon’s pace brought him up three positions into fifth overall.

 

Before the remote service came SS4 Stiri 1, yet another long stage at 24.18 kilometres and Seb set the pace this time from Thierry and Jon again. Adrien was only eleventh quickest after getting a puncture on the front right-hand side corner. The Frenchman fell to fourth position from the lead. All of this meant that Jon was now holding third position.

 

After the remote service it was to SS5 Elikon Mt that the crews headed to next and this stage will go down in history as the place where Jon and Shane took their first ever overall stage victory, beating Seb and Thierry. A simply brilliant drive! There was a stop for Finnish crew Sami and Marko who had a puncture to change and fell eight positions to fifteenth place.

It was back to SS6 Stiri 2 next and Thierry was fastest from Seb and Takamoto. Adrien was fourth and passed Jon for third overall as the Irishman suffered first a puncture and then a loss of power as well. After the highs of the previous stage, they fell down the leaderboard.

 

Onto the final stage of the day then with SS7 Thiva, yet another single run stage. Adrien set the pace from Seb and Thierry, and they filled the top three positions overall. We lost Oliver and Elliott as they spun off and their car was beached at the edge of the road. Championship leaders Elfyn and Scott ended the day in seventh overall after opening the road.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

 

Classification after Day One

1 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1:26:48.2 2 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +9.7 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +42.4 4 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +1:10.1 5 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +1:16.9 6 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:33.2 7 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:08.4 8 D. Sordo C. Carrera Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:49.5 9 A. Mikkelsen J. Listerud Skoda Fabia RS +3:10.6 10 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +3:13.1

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Today was a great day. The car was working very well, and I felt very confident on the stages. I tried to manage the rhythm and adapt to the conditions, pushing when it was clean and being smooth where it was rough. We did what we needed to today – obviously, you always need a bit of luck to get through without any trouble, and the rally is still long. We’re happy to be in the lead tonight, but we know that the rally is not over, and we need to try to repeat this performance tomorrow.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“It’s been a very competitive day for us, with three of the six fastest times. We’re in a great place with the car, which was performing really well back on gravel, and it’s nice to see the results of the team’s hard work. It’s a shame we lost 30 seconds with a delamination that led to a puncture, but I want to focus on the positives. It’s a long game, and we’re still in the fight for the win.”

Dani Sordo

“It was not my best day today; it was disappointing to pick up a puncture on the second stage and lose some time. After that, I struggled for confidence, but we managed to regain a few positions and avoid being first on the road tomorrow. If this had happened on Saturday, it would have been much more difficult for us to recover a good result, and we’re in a position to have a much better day tomorrow.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Sébastien Ogier

“It was clear that today would be difficult as a team with the amount of loose gravel on the road. At least I had the best start position within the team, and I tried to use that as much as I could. In some sections we still saw the guys starting behind us could be quite a bit quicker, but overall, I think we can be happy. We had a good rhythm and stayed out of trouble on stages that were very abrasive for the tyres. So far it’s going to plan, but we need to keep it going the same way.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been quite a clean day overall for us. We tried our best to manage the tyres, and unfortunately we did pick up some damage a couple of times, but we know that this can happen in this kind of very extreme conditions. To be P6 overall tonight is quite good considering that we were second on the road. Of course, it could be better, but it could also be worse. Realistically I think we can still aim to catch the two cars in front of us tomorrow and otherwise try to stay away from problems, because anything can still happen in a rough rally like this.”

Elfyn Evans

“We knew that today was going to be tough in our position opening the road, but it turned out to be even tougher than we had expected. The cleaning effect on some of the stages today was really extreme. It’s very dry this year and we’ve started the rally with some rockier and more abrasive stages compared to last year, and the impact of that for us has been clear. We just have to keep trying tomorrow, which I’m sure will be another tough day to challenge everyone.”

Sami Pajari

“We had some nice stages during the morning loop, and I think that our pace was quite decent considering our road position. I felt that we were doing quite an OK job while trying to avoid any issues, but unfortunately the issues still came our way and in total we lost around two minutes. It means we are realistically out of the fight for the win, but there’s still two long days to go. Anything can happen and we just need to keep going.”

Oliver Solberg

“Today has been tougher than expected. To have the puncture in the first stage this morning was unfortunate, and after that we were just trying to stay out of trouble really. Then in the last stage of the day I got too wide in a right-hander and just got beached on the edge of the road, and when I tried to reverse I damaged the gearbox and ended up being stuck. It’s very frustrating, especially as we had not been pushing after what happened earlier. It’s been a tough run lately and we need to understand it and improve and keep our heads up.”

 

Saturday

The stages on the second day of the rally will see the crews five stages, two of which are only run once. It will be a challenging day indeed!