Kalle Rovanperä took a huge step towards his third consecutive Rally Estonia victory with a supreme performance on the penultimate leg of the FIA World Rally Championship round today (Saturday).
The 22-year-old, who became the youngest WRC event winner in history on the country’s fast-paced gravel roads two years ago, reeled off nine consecutive benchmark times to pull clear of Thierry Neuville.
Reigning FIA world champion Rovanperä relegated Neuville for top spot early on Friday afternoon and started today’s penultimate leg with a 3.0s advantage. Inspired by the cleaner line offered by his later starting position, he was simply untouchable at the wheel of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid.
The Finn outpaced Neuville on every single stage to stretch his advantage to 34.9s, his Saturday surge strengthened further when Neuville picked up a slow tyre deflation on Otepää 2 aboard his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid.
Rovanperä, who is co-driven by compatriot Jonne Halttunen, stands to extend his FIA World Rally Championship title lead barring any major dramas through Sunday’s 61.08-kilometre finale.
“For sure the feeling is nice,” said Rovanperä. “I have really enjoyed the afternoon especially, it has been really nice. The car is working well and these are my favourite stages of the entire calendar, so why wouldn’t I be enjoying them at full speed? A lot of fans as well, it’s really cool.”
Neuville admitted he had been too hesitant in the morning’s opening pair of stages but still posted second-best times on five occasions. He conceded that overhauling Rovanperä in the closing four speed tests would be a long shot, however.
“There’s just a little bit missing to match the pace of Kalle,” he said, “but without the puncture I think it would have been a perfect day.”
Esapekka Lappi completes the overnight podium, 10.5s behind team-mate Neuville after a thrilling day-long battle with Elfyn Evans.
Driving a GR Yaris, Evans had reduced Lappi’s buffer to just seven-tenths of a second by the day’s midpoint but fell to 7.3s behind the charging Finn over the course of the afternoon.
Teemu Suninen continued his trouble-free debut in an i20 N Rally1 to hold fifth overall, 48.8s back from Welshman Evans. Behind him, M-Sport Ford’s Pierre-Louis Loubet was a further 44.0s in arrears and collected a five-second time penalty for breaching hybrid strategy rules on Friday.
Seventh-placed Takamoto Katsuta moved to within 7.0s of Loubet despite having a scare when his Toyota refused to restart at the finish line of Kanepi 1. Penalty-hit home hero Ott Tänak, meanwhile, climbed to eighth overall in his Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid.
Andreas Mikkelsen is on course to claim his second FIA WRC2 triumph of the season and in ninth overall in a Toksport-run Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 while top FIA WRC2 Challenger Sami Pajari completes the top 10 in his identical car.
Roope Korhonen tops the FIA WRC3 order with Grégoire Munster 6.4s ahead of Laurent Pellier in FIA Junior WRC. Alexander Villanueva holds a comfortable advantage in the WRC Masters’ Cup category.
The 12.04-kilometre Karaski test is up first on Sunday from 08:09 local time. The stage is new for 2023 and is one of four on the itinerary. The rally-deciding Wolf Power Stage, with bonus points available to the fastest five crews, is due to begin at 13:15 prior to the podium ceremony in central Tartu.