Day 1
Drama unfolded during shakedown where Ott Tanak competing in his home rally sustained a five-minute penalty as his engine has had to be changed before the first competitive stage of Rally Estonia.
Tänak set the pace on the first run of shakedown in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid, but as soon as he reached the stop control he reported an engine issue.
His car was then towed back to service in Tartu where the M-Sport mechanics investigated the issue.
Although the precise problem with the engine could not be determined, it was significant enough to necessitate an engine change.
Elsewhere Rovanpera would lead the event on Day 1 after snatching the advantage from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville on Friday afternoon.
Day 2
A moment of utter brilliance from the defending champion as he won all of Saturday’s nine World Rally Championship stages to open up a commanding lead at Rally Estonia.
The reigning world champion delivered his best display of the season to date to transform a 3.0s overnight advantage into a 34.9s over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Neuville lost 6.5s to a slow puncture during the morning loop but was unable to match the pace of the Toyota driver.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi will head into Sunday with a 7.3s margin over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans after an intense battle over third that ebbed and flowed over the day.
Teemu Suninen ended the day in a lonely fifth (+1m41.5s) on his Rally1 debut ahead of M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet (+2m25.5s), Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta (+2m32.5s), and home hero Ott Tanak, who recovered to eighth (+5m55.2s) after starting the day in 11th position.
Day 3
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera continued his relentless march towards victory at Rally Estonia by extending his World Rally Championship stage winning streak to 12 on Sunday morning.
The reigning world champion remained in a class of his own to claim the for morning stages to win the rally by 52.6s over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi managed to hold onto third from Evans while Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen remained in fifth.
In the battle for sixth, Loubet snatched it from Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta with Tanak in 8th with the main damage being done from the engine penalty.
Andreas Mikkelsen won the WRC2 Category & nineth overall with Sami Pajari in tenth place.
