Oliver Solberg stunned the World Rally Championship field to score a commanding maiden win on his Rally1 return in Estonia and deliver Toyota’s 100th WRC victory.
After receiving a call to join Toyota’s Rally1 ranks two weeks ago, WRC2 leader Solberg and his co-driver Elliott Edmondson delivered a masterclass performance claiming nine stage wins from the 20 fast gravel tests. It has come two and a half years since the pair’s last Rally1 outing with Hyundai.
The win comes 20 years after his Norwegian father, 2003 world champion Petter Solberg, scored his last WRC win at Wales Rally GB. Oliver Solberg also became the first Swedish WRC winner since Kenneth Ericsson won in New Zealand in 1997, while Edmondson is the 16th British co-driver to win at rallying’s top level.
The 23-year-old Solberg took the win by 25.2s from Hyundai’s home hero Ott Tanak, with the Estonian’s team-mate and reigning world champion Thierry Neuville scoring a much-needed third [+48.3s] to kickstart his title defence.
Tanak has now moved to the top of the championship overtaking Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who again struggled for speed throughout and ultimately finished sixth [+1m43.4s] after overtaking Takamoto Katsuta on Sunday. Evans managed to pick up 11 points, but now trails Tanak by one point in the standings.
it proved to be a difficult weekend for Toyota as neither of its regular drivers showed consistent speed. Two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera was tipped to shine having won the last three WRC editions of the event.
The Finn topped shakedown, but that was as good as it got as Rovanpera continued to struggle adapting to the new-for-2025 Hankook tyres – ending the rally with a Power Stage win in a lonely fourth [+55.6s].
Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux endured a slow start, but quickly climbed the leaderboard to finish fifth having claimed a fastest time in stage six. Toyota’s Sami Pajari suffered a brake issue on Friday that hampered his progress and he finished seventh after Katsuta retired with a mechanical issue.
Martins Sesks emerged as the best of the M-Sport-Ford trio to finish eighth [+3m36.0ss], comfortably ahead of team-mates Josh McErlean [+5m29.8s] and Gregoire Munster [+5m57.5s].
