What a debut for Oliver Solberg! The Toyota pilot, which is back in a rally championship (WRC) at the Rallye Estonia for the first time in 2022, took the lead on Friday with a sensational performance and is 12.4 seconds before Hyundai star Ott Tänak.
The 22-year-old Solberg, son of the 2003 Petter Solberg world champion, only had two test days for preparation. Nevertheless, he showed no signs of familiarization difficulties. On the contrary: In the second exam, the Swede secured his first WP victory in the Rallye Championship. He followed the fourth exam and went into the lunch service with a 8.5 second lead.
“Today was the best day of my life. I lead a World Cup rally, winning exams and the feeling in the car is just fantastic,” said Solberg at the finish line. “I just wanted to drift and have fun.”
Neuville picks up in the afternoon
In the afternoon, Solberg claimed his lead with another best time on WP7 and a spectacular journey during the audience test at the end of the day – including an improvised drift show to the delight of the spectators.
Tänak, who had to go on the track in second, struggled all day long with the balance of his Hyundai i20 N. He was two WP victories, but Solberg could not be dangerous.
Teammate Thierry Neuville fought the grip on the Hankook gravel tire in the morning, but increasingly found trust and in the afternoon pushed himself past Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) in third place (+14.2 seconds).
Rovanperä: Another day to forget
Friday was disappointing for the triple Estonian winner Rovanperä. The defending champion did not get along with the Hankook tires: “Another day full of problems, like almost all year round. We try to find something for tomorrow, but I don’t have much hope,” said the frustrated Finn, who is fourth with 20.1 seconds behind.
Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) showed a strong second half of the day after a weak start and worked with a best time to WP6 in fifth place (+29.8 seconds). Toyota pilot Takamoto Katsuta fell back to sixth place, but was able to complete the day with a shared best time with Neuville on the eighth test.
WM leader Elfyn Evans (Toyota) also had a difficult stand. The Welsh was the first on the track to see the slippery gravel paths – in the end it was only seventh (+41.4 seconds).
Sami Pajari in the third Toyota overcame an engine problem in the afternoon and became eighth (+1: 05.1 minutes). Martins Sesks leads the M-Sport-Ford trio as ninth (+1: 11.4 minutes), in front of Josh Mcerlean (+1: 30.0 minutes) and Gregoire Munster (+1: 40.6 minutes).
On Saturday, nine marking tests over a total of 125.75 kilometers are waiting for the crews.