Tartu (Estonia) (AFP)
They were three favorites nominated by their peers to win Rally Estonia on Sunday: Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) and Craig Breen (Hyundai) battled for first place on Friday, when local hero Ott Tänak (Hyundai) came out by the small door.
In the lead since the first special on Thursday evening and the fastest in seven out of nine special stages, the Finnish Rovanperä impresses, but this is also the case for the Irishman Breen, who was at 8 sec 5/10 at the end of this first day. .
“The Hyundai cars are very fast,” notes Rovanperä who, at 20, is chasing a first victory in the World Rally Championship (WRC).
"We'll have to find more + grip + (grip, editor's note) tomorrow because I'm already at the absolute limit without making any mistakes. It's very tight!"
"I'm very, very happy to be in the fight," Breen replies.
"This guy (his co-driver, editor's note) is fantastic, the car is great. Another two big days ahead of us!"
- Ogier "happy" -
As for the fight for the last step of the podium in this 7th round of the season, it opposes Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), 3rd 53 seconds behind the young Finn, and Sébastien Ogier (Toyota), 4th 59 seconds.
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Leader in the drivers' classification and therefore forced to open the road and sweep the dirt, Ogier is "extremely happy" to have limited the damage.
"I could not have hoped for better and, whatever is going on with Thierry, it does not matter much at the moment", assures the Frenchman.
In the championship, he has a 56 point lead over the Belgian and 34 over his runner-up and Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans, 5th at 1 min 15 sec Friday night.
Neuville, who lost a little time because of a puncture, anticipates "a fierce fight all weekend. The objective is clear: to stay in front of Sébastien and bring back a good result for the team, so we have to keep the car on the road, ”he said.
Tänak, winner on her home turf in 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2020 (the year she entered the WRC calendar), for her part said goodbye to her chances by retiring in the morning.
After three punctures, he no longer had a spare tire and will resume the race on Saturday morning with penalties for each stage missed.
In a morning of eliminations, Gus Greensmith (M-Sport Ford) and Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) experienced various and varied problems: the Briton suffered recurring problems with his engine, which also affected his Finnish teammate Teemu Suninen.
As for the co-pilot of the Japanese, he suffers from the back and withdraws for the weekend.
- Record in sight -
After a promising start to the season (4th in Monte-Carlo, 2nd in the Arctic Rally in Finland), Rovanperä led the championship after two rounds.
But he struggled to recover from an accident in the first special of the following rally, in Croatia.
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He then finished 22nd in Portugal, 25th in Sardinia, but 6th in Kenya, and he finds his colors on roads that he knows well for having made his classes there before riding in the World.
They also resemble what his native country can offer.
At the end of the 24 stages of this copious Estonian menu, it is perhaps a new record in WRC that awaits him: after having been last year, for his first season among the elite, the youngest driver to reach on the podium (3rd in Sweden), he could become the youngest to win.
He would then succeed another Finn, his boss at Toyota, Jari-Matti Latvala, who was 22 when he won his inaugural victory in Sweden in 2008.
Two loops of four specials are on the program on Saturday, still in the south-east of the country, before a passage on the short ES (1.64 km) already covered Thursday evening.
These are largely new and especially more narrow and technical than those, very fast, disputed Friday.
© 2021 AFP