WRC 2
Virves holds steady as WRC2 victory beckons at home
Robert Virves has moved within two stages of WRC2 victory and a significant payday at Delfi Rally Estonia.
The home hero Virves led Saturday from start to finish in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, holding a circling quartet of Finns at bay to complete a demanding nine stages 10.1sec clear of Teemu Suninen with third-placed Roope Korhonen only a further 0.8sec back.
Victory on his home rally will guarantee Virves €25,000 as the best-finishing Estonian, courtesy of WRC Promoter.
"It's been a long long day. [I am] very happy with the result so far. I think we will see the biggest gaps in this stage, which is quite crazy,” exclaimed the former FIA Junior WRC champion at the completion of the day-ending Tartu Vald super special adjacent to the Tartu-based service park.
Roope Korhonen was locked in a tight podium battle across Saturday
© At World
Beginning Saturday in fifth place, Emil Lindholm was able to move up one spot in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 to fourth but was unable to match the tempo of the leading trio, completing 36.6sec adrift. Meanwhile Mikko Heikkila, who was only 10.3sec off Virves on Saturday morning, admitted to struggling for feeling across the day, completing 48.0sec down, in fifth.
The biggest climber across Saturday was Sweden’s Mille Johansson. The reigning Junior WRC champion climbed from 10th to sixth in his Fabia, benefitting from the errors of those surrounding him.
Teemu Suninen was on the fly on Saturday in Estonia
© At World
That included WRC Promoter-backed Patrick Enok, whose day could have easily been over almost as soon as it started when he experienced a scare 300m into the first stage, dropping almost 30sec. It was a clear wake-up call for the 20-year-old, who would not set a tyre wrong on his Fabia for the remainder of Saturday to complete in seventh.
Like Johansson, it was an error-free day for Lauri Joona to get the Finn inside the top ten by the end of Saturday, completing in eighth.
There were tyre issues for both Tuukka Kauppinen and Romet Jürgensson on SS13 as both dropped position. Kauppinen was hit particularly hard, going from fifth to 10th. He then suffered further frustration with mechanical issues on the next stage, forcing him to pull over to make running repairs, costing him more than five minutes and dropping him to 17th.
For Jurgensson, the setback was more manageable, eventually ending the day in his Ford Fiesta Rally2 in the same position he started it, in ninth.
Rounding out the top 10 was Joosep Ralf Nõgene, one position higher than he started the day.
