The champion shows the fangs! Author of a shy start to the season, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) won the first special of the Estonia rally this Thursday evening in Tartu. The Belgian handled his i20 to get ahead of the Toyota of Elfyn Evans of 0.5S only. Leader of the championship, the Welshman will have the honor of opening the road on Friday with a very provisional position of second of the general.
However, he will have to be wary of the return of the stage premises, Ott Tänak. The Estonian made a beautiful first special by ranking third, 0.6s from his teammate Thierry Neuville. Winner of the Acropolis rally – Hyundai’s first success this season – the 2019 world champion is committed to doing as well on his roads.
The departure of the Estonia rally is however less positive for the third i20, in the hands of Adrien Fourmaux. The northerner is satisfied with the 10th time, the less good of Rally1 with the exception of the three Ford Puma by Joshua Mcerlean (13th), Grégoire Munster (14th) and Mārtiņš Sesks (16th).
On the other hand, the evening smiled at the beginner Oliver Solberg, 7th for his debut in Rally1 with Toyota. Peter Solberg’s son is ahead of his teammate Sami Pajari, but ends behind the amazing Škoda Rally2 by Robert Virves (5th). The Estonian has the advantage of playing at home and ranks first leader in WRC2.
Finally, the fastest man in Shakedown, Kalle Rovanperä, finished this first day when the gaps are very low with the fourth time. The serious things will start this Friday morning with seven specials on the program, to follow in live text in full on Autohebdo.fr. ES2 will be launched at 8:16 a.m. French time.
WRC – Rallye d’Estonie
The ES1 classification
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