WRC2
Virves victorious at home in nail-biting WRC2 finale
Robert Virves held off a fast-finishing duo of Finns to claim WRC2 victory at Delfi Rally Estonia.
Despite leading since Friday morning’s second stage, home hero Virves was pushed to the very end by Roope Korhonen and Teemu Suninen, with Korhonen cutting Virves’ overnight lead of 10.1sec to 5.7sec on the first running of Kääriku. However, with only two stages running on Sunday, Virves was able to do maintain his nerves to eventually hold on for victory by 7.6sec as Suninen demoted his fellow Toyota-driving Finn Korhonen for second on the Wolf Power Stage by 1.2sec.
The victory for the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 driver netted him €25,000 as the top-finishing young Estonian driver, as well as 25 crucial points in his push for the title.
Teemu Suninen moved into second on the Wolf Power Stage
© Jaanus Ree
Victory for Virves’ third in as many starts this season in WRC2 – his fourth in total – moving him to second in the overall championship standings, four points behind Korhonen who has two additional starts to his name.
Avoiding being drawn into the top-three battle, Virves’s Toksport team-mate Emil Lindholm brought his Fabia home comfortably in fourth place whilst Mille Johansson rounded out the top five.
Starting the day in sixth, the reigning FIA Junior WRC champion Johansson was elevated into the top five when Mikko Heikkila damaged his front right damper in a heavy impact, resulting in him losing more than four-and-a-half minutes.
Roope Korhonen was pipped from second to third on the Wolf Power Stage
© Jaanus Ree
Completing in sixth, 9.1sec clear of Lauri Joona was WRC Promoter-backed Patrick Enok. The Fabia pilot also took home €15,000 as the second-best finishing Estonian.
After Johansson, Romet Jürgenson was the second-best finishing Ford Fiesta Rally2 driver in eighth, one spot ahead of fellow Estonia youngster Joosep Ralf Nõgene, whilst Hekkilä’s incident elevated Giovanni Trentin into the top 10, only for the Italian to pick up tyre damage on the Wolf Power Stage and drop behind Takumi Matsushita.
