Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson stunned the WRC elite with a commanding display across the high-speed gravel roads of Estonia, sealing his breakthrough win on debut in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 – nearly 20 years after father Petter’s final WRC success in 2005.

With an overnight lead of 21.1 seconds heading into Sunday’s final three stages and 60km of racing, it was a nervous Solberg who faced a wet-dry stage. He made no mistakes and set the fastest time, as he did on the 24km long penultimate test, taking his tally to nine stage wins.

Solberg also took the maximum Super Sunday bonus points. “After everything, so many years trying and trying and trying and dreaming, and me and Elliott finally made it,” said Solberg. “I just want to say thank you to Toyota, to the test team who helped me get so comfortable, for all the help this weekend from this beautiful, beautiful team. I’ve never had such a good time in my life.”

Home hero Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja brought their Hyundai i20 home in second place and took the championship lead by one point from Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin.

Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe completed the podium after Hyundai called time-out on their ferocious fight on Saturday. The current world champion was slapped with a 10-second penalty for a jumped start on the first stage of the day.

Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen finished a humbling and lonely fourth overall, with the three-time Rally Estonia winner taking the Wolf Power Stage win.

Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria ended fifth overall having left bits of their Hyundai in the Estonian countryside after a nose-first landing in the day’s opening stage.

Evans and Scott Martin passed Takamoto Katsuta for sixth in the penultimate stage, but the Japanese driver was forced to retire before the final test.

Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen ended seventh ahead of M-Sport Ford’s leading crew, Martins Sesks and Renars Francis, with Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy and Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka rounding out the top ten in their Puma Rally1 machines.

Robert Virves and Jakko Viilo claimed their maiden WRC win on home soil ahead of fellow Estonians Georg Linnamäe and James Morgan.

Read the full report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow.

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Oliver Solberg continued his domination of WRC Delfi Rally Estonia on Saturday, increasing his overnight lead to 21.1 seconds after winning three stages on the fly on Saturday morning.

His Friday performance was helped by a favourable road position, but it was a level playing field on Saturday with three drivers boasting four championships between them, trying to hunt him down to no avail.

Another fastest time on stage 15 kept his confidence high while conceding a few tenths here and there after he claimed he would wind his speed down a bit.

“It’s been an absolutely amazing day,” said Solberg, whose father Petter was the 2003 world champion. “Really consistent speed, no mistakes, just trying to keep it clean. It wasn’t the plan to extend the gap, but hey, it’s fantastic.

“I’m just doing my thing and trying to do every stage as good as I can and as clean as I can with no mistakes, and today there have been no mistakes. They are pushing so hard behind, and I can feel it – it’s tense.”

Behind the flying Toyota, it was all out war between Hyundai’s Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville as they fought over second position overall. They traded places six times during the day, with the margin between them as close as 0.1 seconds after stage 13.

A ‘suggestion’ from Hyundai’s bosses that it was critically important to bring both cars home in second and third to maximize their Manufacturers’ points saw Neuville lose a little confidence, leaving Tanak four seconds ahead of his teammate at the end of play.

Kalle Rovanperä holds fourth in no-man’s land, too far behind the Hyundais and sufficiently ahead of fifth placed Adrien Fourmaux to gain or lose any positions in the standings. Rovanperä wrung his Toyota’s neck, and tried numerous changes during the day to improve matters but admitted he and Toyota Gazoo Racing were out of options to find more speed.

Fourmaux had a steady run in the third i20 N, successfully absorbing Takamoto Katsuta’s pressure to leave the Japanese Toyota driver trailing by 8.6 seconds in fifth and sixth respectively.

Elfyn Evans was expected to challenge Katsuta and Fourmaux, given his more favourable position of fifth on the road, but he languished in seventh place and like his teammate, simply lacked pace across the longest day of the rally. Not only did he fail to make any progress climbing up the leader board, but he also dropped a couple of seconds further back.

Sami Pajari ended eighth overall, 34 seconds ahead of M-Sport Ford’s leading Puma in the hands of Martins Sesks. Josh McErlean rounded out the top ten with Grégoire Munster languishing in last in the Rally1 class after spending Saturday running first on the road.

Robert Virves continues to lead in WRC2 with a comfortable margin of 26.5 seconds over his fellow Estonian Georg Linnamäe.

Three stages and 60km remain for Sunday, with the possibility of rain at roughly the time the Wolf Power Stage is scheduled to start…

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It may be just a one-off outing in Toyota Gazoo Racing’s GR Yaris Rally1 for Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson, but the 23-year-old grabbed the opportunity with both hands by winning three of Rally Estonia’s six Friday stages.

Solberg was blisteringly quick through Friday morning’s opening 24.35km stage, the longest of the rally, beating his double world champion teammate Kalle Rovanperä by 5.3 seconds, and grabbing the lead of the rally which he held throughout the day.

Solberg went on to win stage four, the repeat of stage two, again beating his illustrious teammate by 2.8 seconds. The young Swede’s third career stage win came on SS7. Stages three, five and six saw Solberg set the second fastest time to close out his return to the top class with a 12.4 second cushion.

“To be leading the rally and to have won a few stages, and to have this amazing feeling in the car, you know – this day has been all about fun,” Solberg grinned. “I don’t know what to say – It’s just been the best day of my life.”

Home hero Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja won stage three, taking second overall off Rovanperä, and went on to set the fastest time on stage five, cementing his overall position in the standings. “It’s just so loose and [there’s] no grip whatsoever,” he said. “I did everything I could, it is as it is at the moment.”

Hyundai’s defending champion Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe ended the day in third position. The Belgian duo won the opening super special stage on Thursday but lost time in Friday’s morning loop. Neuville did not have confidence in his car to challenge but after the midday service, he began to reel Tanak in. 1.8 seconds separates the two i20 N drivers after Neuville took the scratch time on the day’s final super special stage.

Rovanperä ended the day in fourth overall, 5.9 seconds behind Neuville. “It’s pretty much the maximum we can do with this car and the current feeling,” the Finn reflected.

Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria ended the day in fifth overall after a frustrating morning as he battled for grip. Set-up changes in service transformed his Hyundai and he immediately went on to win SS 6 and only lost the top spot in stage seven by 0.3 second to Solberg.

Takamoto Katsuta succumbed to Fourmaux’s newfound speed which was compounded by a spin and intercom issues to end sixth overall in the third TGR Yaris.

Elfyn Evans, first on the road as championship leader, struggled for traction and languished in eighth – ahead of fellow Toyota driver Sami Pajari, whose morning was hampered by an intermittent power loss.

Mārtiņš Sesks and Josh McErlean rounded out the top 10 in M-Sport Ford Pumas, split by 18.6sec. Grégoire Munster was 11th after a difficult day that included brake issues, a tyre deflation and an overshoot.

In WRC2, Robert Virves is dominating the category with a 34.4 second lead over his Estonian countryman Georg Linnamäe. Roope Korhonen, Mikko Heikkila and Lauri Joona round out the top five.

Pre-event favourite Nikolay Gryazin crashed out early in stage two.

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Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja clinched their and Hyundai’s first victory in eight months after winning the EKO Acropolis Rally Greece by 32.8 seconds over Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais in  a tense final day.

On the Wolf Power Stage Tanak dropped 16 seconds to Ogier which turned out to be gearbox related which cost the rally winner the maximum Super Sunday points which were scooped up by Ogier.

The top two each won a pair of stages on Sunday while Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria stood on the podium for the first time since Monte Carlo back in January.

Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin brought their Toyota home in fourth place to maintain their championship lead, albeit reduced to just nine points ahead of Ogier with Tanak three points further back in third on the title log.

Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe came home in fifth after a scare on the penultimate stage when his i20 N lost power. He was forced to stop and reset the computer but it didn’t help and the Belgians lost 1:28s.

Oliver Solberg was a remarkable sixth overall – his third straight victory in WRC2, some 53.8 seconds ahead of his old teammate Gus Greensmith.

Yohan Rossel, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Alejandro Cachon rounded out the top ten.

Read the full report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow.

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Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja dominated EKO Acropolis Rally Greece on Saturday, delivered a near faultless performance, taking five stage wins from six – beaten only by Sebastian Ogier on SS10 and then by just 0.1 seconds as the Toyota Gazoo Racing star held on to second overall.

Tanak takes a 43.6 second lead into Sunday’s four stage finale, on the cusp of giving Hyundai their long awaited first victory of the season.

 “We’ve generally had a very good day. Even in the afternoon, it’s true that some bedrock was threatening us sometimes, but generally it was smoother and more consistent – a bit better than expected. We had a good rhythm, and we maintained all day. While we are still in the lead, it’s important to remember that we haven’t scored any points yet and we still have some rough stages to go, including one that is new and very long, so this is always very demanding. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow to bring this home.”

Ogier initially trailed Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux until he clobbered a a piece of Greek countryside which damaged their suspension, but a makeshift fix got them back on the road and to midday service – dropping them to third overall.

While a tyre came off its rim on SS11, Fourmaux was undeterred, and still managed to claim a top-five stage time to retain his overall position. After a tyre came off the rim in stage 11, the rest of day was smooth sailing, and the crew go into Sunday with a comfortable cushion of just under a minute from Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin.

Evans remained a distant fourth after a steady but unspectacular day. The Toyota man repeatedly described the conditions as “very rough” and ended the leg over three minutes off the lead – but with championship rival Thierry Neuville behind, Sunday’s bonus-point opportunities remain critical.

Kalle Rovanperä was running mid-pack before losing his brakes and going off in SS11, while Takamoto Katsuta also went off and became beached in the same test leading to retirement for both Toyota drivers.

It was another bruising leg for Neuville. After losing time to a puncture in the morning, the Hyundai man fought back into fifth overall – though still over a minute behind Evans.

“We had the pace,” Neuville reflected. “But three punctures [this weekend] didn’t allow us to do what we can.”

Grégoire Munster completed the leg sixth despite nursing a faulty handbrake throughout the day. Oliver Solberg continued to lead WRC2 in seventh overall with a comfortable buffer over Gus Greensmith, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Yohan Rossel.

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Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja ended a rough, puncture-riddled opening day of EKO Acropolis Rally Greece with a three second lead over Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria, giving Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT hope for a repeat win on one of their most successful events.

Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais ended third in their Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris, some 16.9 seconds off the lead, having led the event heading into the mid-day service break.

Thierry Neuville controlled a Hyundai one-two-three after stage three before the Belgian’s miserable luck continued when he suffered a left-front puncture in stage four, the final test of the morning loop, leaving the i20 N trailing home 40 seconds adrift and on three tyres and a rim.

“It was the right decision to carry on,” Neuville explained. “Obviously disappointing, but the rally is long. There are going to be a lot of punctures.”

Behind the leading trio, Sami Pajari continued his impressive form, briefly holding third overall and ending the loop in fourth. He was 4.9sec ahead of Kalle Rovanperä, who has struggled with confidence and reported excessive oversteer in his GR Yaris.

Neuville is sixth, followed by Elfyn Evans, who is enduring a tough start to his Acropolis campaign. First on the road, the Welshman described his car as “really difficult to turn” and dropped 42.5sec off the lead by midday.

Grégoire Munster was eighth, with WRC2 frontrunners Oliver Solberg and Kajetan Kajetanowicz rounding out the overall top 10. Mārtiņš Sesks, Takamoto Katsuta and Josh McErlean all dropped time earlier in the loop after stopping to change wheels.

Ogier’s pace ebbed away in the afternoon, dropping to third behind the top two Hyundais. Fourmaux was on fine form, taking two stage wins on the bounce. Evans was fourth, a solid run after sweeping the road in the morning stages.

Munster held an impressive fifth overall from Katsuta, Rovanperä and Neuville.

Pajari’s great run ended with a mechanical retirement en route to stage six.

Oliver Solberg held a solid 53 second lead in WRC2 over Kajetan Kajetanowicz.

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One year on from losing victory on the final stage of Rally Italia Sardegna to Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja, this year, the tables were turned when Ogier claimed his record fifth victory on the Italian island by 7.9 seconds.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver went into the final Wolf Power Stage with a comfortable 17.2 second lead over Tanak; however, in the final stage, Ogier ran wide after his car got stuck in a rut at a sharp hairpin and ran off the road, forcing the Frenchman to reverse out, setting only the seventh fastest time.

“In the ruts, I just couldn’t turn the car,” Ogier explained. “There was no speed at all, so I didn’t try to force it and hit it – I preferred to stop and reverse. But yeah, not ideal. Still, it was enough to win.”

The result marked back-to-back wins for the Frenchman following his Rally de Portugal triumph last month, and his third victory of the season from just four starts – propelling him firmly into the title fight.

Behind the dueling Toyota and Hyundai crews, Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen stormed through the final 13.7km test 8.1 seconds faster than Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe in their Hyundai i20 N.

Fourth in the overall standings went to Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, just over five minutes behind Ogier after losing loads of time sweeping the road clean on Friday. The championship leader saw his lead slashed to seventeen points while Ogier moved into second place on the championship leaderboard, one point ahead of Rovanperä.

Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari ended in fifth and seventh respectively, with Oliver Solberg sandwiched between the two GR Yarises. Pajari sustained a damaged rear driveshaft after a spin, dropping from fifth position.

Roberto Dapra (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) and Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) rounded out the top ten.

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Sébastien Ogier stretched his Rally Italia Sardegna lead on Saturday morning as Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux and Ott Tänak both ran into problems in the punishing island stages.

Ogier’s 2.1 second overnight lead stretched to 7.4 seconds after winning Saturday’s opening stage, beating this Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Kalle Rovanperä by 3.1 seconds, while Hyundai’s Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux finished third and fourth respectively.

Tänak fought back on stage eight, cutting the Frenchman’s lead to 4.5 seconds but on the second stage of the day Fourmaux picked up a puncture dropping off the podium. Tänak and Rovanperä moved up into the provisional overall podium standings with Sami Pajari holding an excellent fourth overall, ahead of Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta.

Ogier was a on a mission on the final stage of the morning loop, heading his Estonian rival by 10 seconds as Tänak had to deal with a deflating tyre, to take a 15 second advantage into the afternoon loop.

Fourmaux’s day went from bad to worse after he ran wide in stage nine, losing another chunk of time.

Tänak reminded everyone he was still in the chase for the win taking the fastest time in stage ten, but only shaved 0.6 seconds off Ogier’s fairly comfortable lead.

Tänak took a big bite out of Ogier’s lead on stage 11, pulling the gap back to 10.7 seconds with one stage remaining.

Evans helped himself to fourth overall after stage 11 at Pajari’s expense, while on the final stage, Ogier took the scratch time again, 0.4 seconds up on the chasing Hyundai.

Rovanperä, Evans and Pajari held station ahead of the WRC2 leader Nikolay Gryazin, who was followed by the recovering Katsuta who dropped down the order after his Friday roll.

Oliver Solberg, Emil Lindholm and Lauri Joona rounded out the top ten with four stages remaining on Sunday.

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The sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Italia Sardegna, was brutal in every respect.

Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais topped the timesheets after Thursday’s shakedown, and he emerged from Friday’s battle with a slender lead of 2.1 seconds over Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria.

Ogier won Friday’s opening stage but starting with an unfavourable third on the road starting position, Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe and Ott Tänak and Martin Jarveoja led the way in a Hyundai one-two after stage two.

Fourmaux went on the attack on the final stage of the morning loop, winning the stage and bouncing from fourth into the overall lead in the process, having maximized his better road position. In the overall standings, Neuville was second from Ogier, Tänak and Sami Pajari.

“Everything is going well,” Fourmaux said. “I really tried to use the lines in front of me and stayed clean and tidy to avoid getting caught in the loose. It paid off, so I’m pleased with that. I expected a lot of sweeping.”

Of the Fords, there was no sign – in a barely believable scenario, all three M-Sport Pumas retired in the stage two. Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean both suffered suspension damage while Martins Sesks rolled at high speed.

When battle resumed after the service break, it was Neuville’s turn to lead after stage four, albeit by 0.2 seconds over Fourmaux with Tänak making it a yet-to-be-seen in 2025  Hyundai one-two-three.

In the next stage, a re-run of Ford’s ‘stagus horribilis’, Neuville retired after whacking a bank which damaged the left rear corner of his car. The carnage continued  when Takamoto Katsuta and Jourdain Serderidis both rolled at the same corner. Both were able to continue, with somewhat battered machinery and no windscreens, and wearing goggles.

At the end of the fifth stage, Fourmaux and Tänak led the way with Ogier 4.6 seconds off the lead.

The final stage of the loop saw Ogier win comfortably from Kalle Rovanperä and Fourmaux, snatching the overnight lead by 2.1 seconds with Tänak keeping a watching brief 5.2 seconds further back.

Pajari did a sterling job to hold fourth, with Rovanperä and the championship leader Elfyn Evans languishing down the order in fifth and sixth respectively, courtesy of running first and second on the road.

Katsuta brought his less than pristine GR Yaris home in seventh, with the WRC2 leaders Nikolay Gryazin, Emil Lindholm and Yohan Rossel rounding out the top ten.

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Sébastien Ogier was a surprise overnight leader at Vodafone Rally de Portugal after Ott Tänak’s hopes of a long-awaited victory were ruined by a power steering failure late on Saturday afternoon.

With an overnight lead of seven seconds over Ogier, Tanak saw his lead shrink on Saturday’s opening test which was won by Ogier to trim the Estonians advantage to 4.4 seconds.

Tänak had led the gravel fixture since stage two on Friday morning and showed steely determination and lightning speed to win three consecutive stages and rebuild his advantage to 13.9 seconds. Heading into the penultimate test, Amarante 2, the Hyundai driver looked firmly in control – but it all came undone on the rally’s longest stage.

A power steering issue struck halfway through the 22.10km test, forcing Tänak to wrestle his i20 N Rally1 to the finish. He dropped over 45sec and relinquished the lead he had fought so hard to build, tumbling to third overall in the process.

Ogier, who had spent most of the day shadowing Tänak, suddenly found himself at the top of the leaderboard. The eight-time world champion and six-time Rally Portugal winner leads the rally by 27.0sec heading into Sunday’s six-stage finale and stands on the verge of a record-extending seventh Vodafone Rally de Portugal triumph.

“It’s not the way you want to win any fight,” said Ogier. “We were both pushing really hard – that’s the game. We tried to keep the pressure on, even if he was a bit quicker. At the end of the previous stage, I actually said to my engineer: ‘Honestly, anything can happen – it’s rough out there. He’s pushing really hard, we need to keep the pressure on.’”

“I’m not happy,” he continued. “I don’t want to celebrate this way. I just hope he can still recover as many points as possible – it’s not over. Tomorrow is a long day.”

Tänak said: “It’s part of the game, I guess. Very unfortunate, but we gave everything from our side.”

Kalle Rovanperä moved up to second, 8.5sec clear of Tänak. The Toyota star had started the day in fourth but overtook Takamoto Katsuta during the morning and gradually pulled clear as the day progressed.

Katsuta’s pace faded in the afternoon, and he dropped behind Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who climbed to fourth on the penultimate stage. The Belgian now trails Rovanperä by 17.0sec, with Katsuta a further 2.2sec back in fifth.

Championship leader Elfyn Evans endured another difficult day and sits seventh overall behind Sami Pajari. After losing time as Friday’s road opener, Evans struggled again to find a rhythm despite a better starting position on Saturday and now trails Pajari by 17.5sec.

Josh McErlean moved up to eighth, edging past M-Sport Ford colleague Grégoire Munster on the opening stage. The Irishman ended the day 28.5sec ahead in their intra-team duel. Oliver Solberg rounded out the leaderboard in 10th and continued to dominate the WRC2 category, maintaining a 50.1sec margin over Gus Greensmith.

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