Rally Estonia is back on the WRC calendar for the second consecutive season to kick off the second part of the 2021 World Rally Championship. Here’s your quick preview of the event.
Last year’s first ever WRC-round in Estonia was won by home hero Ott Tänak. It marked Tänak’s first victory with Hyundai on his way to third in the championship. Craig Breen finished second just 4.7 seconds ahead of Sébastien Ogier who had been in a tight fight for the podium places with Breen.
This year, a total of 314.16 competitive kilometres awaits the drivers over a four-day event.
Rally Estonia entry list
10 World Rally Cars are entered for this weekend’s rally. Toyota’s line-up is unchanged compared to Safari Rally Kenya last month, with Ogier, Evans, Rovanperä and Katsuta all ready to tackle the fast stages around Tartu. Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville are partnered by last year’s runner-up Craig Breen. Rally Estonia will be Breen’s third outing in the Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC after a fourth place finish in Arctic Rally Finland and P8 at Rally Croatia. The Irishman did have plenty of competition though, competing in the Italian championship as well as the European rally championship in a Hyundai i20 R5. Breen finished second at ERC Rally Liepaja two weeks ago.
Pierre-Louis Loubet is back in his 2C Compétition run i20 Coupé WRC after sitting out during Safari Rally. At M-Sport, full-time driver Gus Greensmith has Teemu Suninen back as his team-mate.
In WRC2, a big battle is expected between championship contenders Andreas Mikkelsen, Mads Østberg & Marco Bulacia. Oliver Solberg, Adrien Fourmaux, Jari Huttunen and ERC Rally Liepaja winner Nikolay Gryazin are also entered in WRC2 this weekend for what is expected to be close fight for the win.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz looks to score big points to close the gap to current championship leader Yohan Rossel who won’t be competing in Estonia. Martins Sesks leads the current JWRC standings heading into round 3 of the championship ahead of Finland’s Sami Pajari and Jon Armstrong.
Itinerary
The action starts on Thursday morning with the 6.23 km long Abissaare shakedown stage at 09:01 local time. On Thursday evening, the rally gets underway with a 1.64 km long Super Special Stage just outside the Tartu service park.
Friday’s running consists of four different stages which will all be run twice. The amount of kilometres are just under 130 for the opening full day. Saturday is the longest day of the rally with just over 130 kilometres of competitive running. The day starts with Peipsiääre stage which is the longest stage of the rally with 23.53 km. Again, four different stages are run twice on Saturday. After the second loop of four stages, the drivers return to the Tartu Super Special Stage to close out the day.
The final day of the rally features a total of six stages, bringing the full itinerary to 24 stages. Tartu vald will be the deciding Power Stage in which we could see some small margins given it’s only 6.51 kilometres long. Full itinerary below.
Rally Estonia 2021 itinerary
All times local: EEST. CEST times in brackets.
Thursday, July 15
09:01 (08:01) Shakedown Abissaare – 6.23 km
20:38 (19:38) SSS1 Tartu 1 – 1.64 km
Friday, July 16
08:07 (07:07) Service A: Raadi
09:40 (08:40) SS2 Arula 1 – 12.68 km
10:28 (09:28) SS3 Otepää 1 – 17.05 km
11:16 (10:16) SS4 Kanepi 1 – 16.54 km
12:08 (11:08) SS5 Kambja 1 – 17.85 km
13:48 (12:48) Flexi Service B: Raadi
15:34 (14:34) SS6 Arula 2 – 12.68 km
16:22 (15:22) SS7 Otepää 2 – 17.05 km
17:10 (16:10) SS8 Kanepi 2 – 16.54 km
18:08 (17:08) SS9 Kambja 2 – 17.85 km
19:18 (18:18) Flexi Service C: Raadi
Saturday, July 17
07:08 (06:08) Service D – Raadi
08:06 (07:06) SS10 Peipsiääre 1 – 23.53 km
09:08 (08:08) SS11 Mustvee 1 – 12.28 km
10:36 (09:36) SS12 Raanitsa 1 – 22.76 km
11:39 (10:39) SS13 Vastsemõisa 1 – 6.70 km
13:48 (12:48) Flexi Service E: Raadi
15:06 (14:06) SS14 Peipsiääre 2 – 23.53 km
16:08 (15:08) SS15 Mustvee 2 – 12.28 km
17:37 (16:34) SS16 Raanitsa 2 – 22.76 km
18:37 (17:37) SS17 Vastsemõisa 2 – 6.70 km
20:08 (19:08) SSS18 Tartu 2 – 1.64 km
20:30 (19:30) Flexi Service F: Raadi
Sunday, July 18
05:58 (04:58) Service G: Raadi
07:21 (06:21) SS19 Neeruti 1 – 17.82 km
08:09 (07:09) SS20 Elva 1 – 11.72 km
09:08 (08:08) SS21 Tartu vald 1 – 16.51 km
11:41 (10:41) SS22 Neeruti 2 – 7.82 km
12:29 (11:29) SS23 Elva 2 – 11.72 km
14:18 (13:18) SS24 Tartu vald 2 | Power Stage – 6.51 km
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Photo: Red Bull Content Pool