Estonia WRC: M-Sport’s Esapekka Lappi takes early lead

Seven-time champion and current points leader Sebastien Ogier got the ball rolling with what appeared to be a rather tentative run through the stage in his Toyota Yaris WRC, stopping the clocks with a time of 1m 17.0s on the narrow, twisting gravel. Britain’s Elfyn Evans, who led the drivers’ standings briefly back in March after taking victory in Sweden, guided the second Toyota through with even greater circumspection, his time more than half a second off the Frenchman’s run.

Thierry Neuville then showed why the softly-softly approach might well have been prudent. This year’s Monte Carlo Rally winner fired his Hyundai I20 Coupe WRC wide on the second corner of the rally and spent most of his time looking through the side windows as he slithered to the finish 1.5 seconds adrift of Ogier’s target time.

Several other front-runners found that Tartu vald presented a serious challenge, with the hefty straw bales claiming several expensive chunks of aerodynamic equipment as the evening progressed. Among those who sent the hay flying was the reigning world champion, Estonia’s own Ott Tanak, who still drew the biggest cheers of the night as he ended up just 0.1s off the lead.

However, as the stage bedded in, the man who took fullest advantage was M-Sport’s Esapekka Lappi, the popular Finn shading Ogier’s time in the Fiesta WRC by hundredths of a second. After his car was destroyed by fire at the last event in Mexico, and in a difficult financial climate for his team, Lappi was equally surprised and delighted to have set the pace.

“It didn’t feel that good to be honest,” he said. “Well this is not really what the stages will be tomorrow but we had a good shakedown, a good opening stage… looking forward!”

With Lappi and Ogier heading Tanak at the top of the timesheet, Irishman Craig Breen, a former winner of Rally Estonia, threw down his marker to hold fourth overnight in one of his outings in the works Hyundai squad, sitting 0.2s ahead of Evans.

In the WRC2 category, current points leader Mads Ostberg stamped his authority on the other junior runners, setting sixth fastest time overall at the wheel of his Citroen C3 R5.

“The nerves are quite big,” the Norwegian said. “It’s been a long wait to feel the importance of a WRC event again.  To be honest I quite enjoy that – it’s nice to be a bit shaky again!”

Ostberg’s closest challenger was Swedish driver Pontus Tidemand, winner of the previous round in Mexico, who sat 0.2s behind in ninth overall in his Skoda R5.

Back in March, Tidemand was uncertain of continuing on the globe-trotting championship trail due to an absence of funds but the post-Covid calendar has greatly reduced travel budgets and his sponsor-less presence has guaranteed a strong battle with Ostberg in the days ahead.

The rally restarts on Saturday morning with the 21km Prangli stage starting at 07:40, opening a busy 11-stage itinerary for the day.

Cla	Driver/Codriver	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm	Ford Fiesta WRC	RC1	1'17.000
2	Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia	Toyota Yaris WRC	RC1	1'17.000	0.000
3	Ott Tanak Martin Jarveoja	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	RC1	1'17.100	0.100
4	Craig Breen Paul Nagle	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	RC1	1'17.400	0.400
5	Elfyn Evans Scott Martin	Toyota Yaris WRC	RC1	1'17.600	0.600
6	Mads Ostberg Torstein Eriksen	Citroën C3 R5	RC2	1'18.200	1.200
7	Takamoto Katsuta Daniel Barritt	Toyota Yaris WRC	RC1	1'18.400	1.400
8	Pontus Tidemand Patrik Barth	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	1'18.400	1.400
9	Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen	Toyota Yaris WRC	RC1	1'18.400	1.400
10	Teemu Suninen Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Fiesta WRC	RC1	1'18.500	1.500
11	Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	RC1	1'18.500	1.500
12	Jari Huttunen Mikko Lukka	Hyundai i20 R5	RC2	1'18.500	1.500
13	Oliver Solberg Aaron Johnston	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	RC2	1'18.600	1.600
14	Nikolay Gryazin Konstantin Aleksandrov	Hyundai i20 R5	RC2	1'18.700	1.700
15	Gus Greensmith Elliott Edmondson	Ford Fiesta WRC	RC1	1'18.700	1.700
16	Ole Christian Veiby Jonas Andersson	Hyundai i20 R5	RC2	1'18.900	1.900
17	Eerik Pietarinen Antti Linnaketo	Škoda Fabia R5	RC2	1'19.000	2.000
18	Grégoire Munster Louis Louka	Hyundai i20 R5	RC2	1'19.100	2.100
19	Eyvind Brynildsen Ilka Minor	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	1'19.200	2.200
20	Kajetan Kajetanowicz Maciek Szczepaniak	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	1'19.400	2.400
21	Egon Kaur Silver Simm	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	1'19.600	2.600
22	Georg Linnamäe Volodymyr Korsia	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	RC2	1'19.600	2.600
23	Adrien Fourmaux Renaud Jamoul	Ford Fiesta Rally2	RC2	1'19.700	2.700
24	Yohan Rossel Benoit Fulcrand	Citroën C3 R5	RC2	1'19.900	2.900
25	Rainer Aus Simo Koskinen	Škoda Fabia R5	RC2	1'20.200	3.200
26	Sean Johnston Alexander Kihurani	Citroën C3 R5	RC2	1'20.300	3.300
27	Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	RC1	1'20.400	3.400
28	Karl Kruuda Dale Moscatt	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	RC2	1'20.600	3.600
29	Jan Solans Mauro Barreiro	Ford Fiesta Rally2	RC2	1'20.700	3.700
30	Raul Jeets Andrus Toom	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	1'20.900	3.900
31	Georg Gross Raigo Molder	Ford Fiesta WRC	RC1	1'20.900	3.900
32	Marco Bulacia Marcelo Der Ohannesian	Citroën C3 R5	RC2	1'21.100	4.100
33	Nicolas Ciamin Yannick Roche	Citroën C3 R5	RC2	1'21.100	4.100
34	Emilio Fernández Ruben Garcia	Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo	RC2	1'21.900	4.900
35	Roland Poom Erik Lepikson	Ford Fiesta Rally2	RC2	1'22.000	5.000
36	Kimmo Kurkela Reeta Hämäläinen	Ford Fiesta WRC	RC1	1'22.000	5.000
37	Gustav Kruuda Ken Järveoja	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	RC2	1'22.600	5.600
38	Alexander Rzhevkin Yaroslav Fedorov	Škoda Fabia R5	RC2	1'23.000	6.000
39	Priit Koik Alari-Uku Heldna	Ford Fiesta R5	RC2	1'24.100	7.100
40	Sami Pajari Marko Salminen	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'24.300	7.300
41	Jaroslaw Koltun Ireneusz Pleskot	Ford Fiesta Rally2	RC2	1'25.000	8.000
42	Rakan Al-Rashed Hugo Magalhaes	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	RC2	1'25.100	8.100
43	Tom Kristensson Joakim Sjöberg	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'25.300	8.300
44	Radik Shaymiev Alexey Arnautov	Ford Fiesta Rally2	RC2	1'26.400	9.400
45	Mārtiņš Sesks Renars Francis	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'26.500	9.500
46	Raul Badiu Gabriel Lazar	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'26.900	9.900
47	Fabrizio Zaldivar Fernando Mussano	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'26.900	9.900
48	Ruairi Bell Matt Edwards	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'26.900	9.900
49	Ken Torn Kauri Pannas	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'27.200	10.200
50	Robert Virves Sander Pruul	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'27.800	10.800
51	Enrico Oldrati Elia De	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'27.900	10.900
52	Marco Pollara Maurizio Messina	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'28.100	11.100
53	Kaspar Kasari Jakko Viilo	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'28.500	11.500
54	Pontus Lönnström Stefan Gustavsson	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'29.000	12.000
55	Vladas Jurkevičius Aisvydas Paliukenas	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'29.400	12.400
56	Fabio Andolfi Stefano Savoia	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'29.700	12.700
57	Justas Simaška Titas Simaška	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'31.000	14.000
58	Gregor Jeets Kuldar Sikk	Ford Fiesta Rally4	RC4	1'32.300	15.300
59	Mika Karppanen Anne Heinonen	Citroën DS3 R5	RC2	1'32.800	15.800
View full results

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