12. Rally Estonia 2022
14. 7. – 17. 7. 2022, Tartu • Estonian Autosport Events MTÜ • gravel 313.84 km • total distance including road sections - 1486.77 km • Other years
Info
SS24
"Difficult to say, specially in these conditions, anything can happen. Sad about the first day where we gave time away with our own mistake. We can be happy with the last two days; we had the speed and had it whilst driving well on the road."
"It's good to make the finish of the rally, specially in these conditions. Most slippy gravel stage we've ever done, we had one moment into a bank here."
"(Virves is a bit faster) By how much? (2 seconds) The car stalled on one junction and we though we are gonna go off."
Spin on the finish line
"Quite a slippery stage to finish it off. We're now looking forward to Finland."
"The car lasted! I've never driven anything this slippery before. At least we're here."
"What a crazy, crazy rally. Very wet in the end of this one. Very challenging, the conditions have been so bipolar it's insane. Happy to be at the end."
Stopped at 1.6 km, continued
Without a front windscreen, crew is very wet
"Same for everyone, quite difficult. We went straight on one turn and had to turn around in a field."
"It was great again. Thanks to Jonne - it was a difficult weekend but we drove really well. Thanks to the team and everybody who is making the car really fast - we worked really hard in the tests to be competitive. And thanks to Akio [Toyoda] - it's great to be in the team and we will continue to push forward."
"It's been a very fast pace form the word 'go'. We've enjoyed it a lot of the time, but not all - the weather has been teicky at times! I have to take my hat off to Kalle - I had no answer to his speed, but I think we were all still driving pretty well."
"Obviously we know what we need to do, we just need to start doing it. The potential is there. It was a very challenging end to the rally and in the previous stage I lost the rear brakes. Conditions in here are very tricky, so the brakes were the least of our problems!"
"I couldn't see anything from 1km after the start due to fogged windscreen. I just tried to get to the end."
"Five times I have tried Rally Estonia and finally I finished it! Huge thanks to the team - they fixed the car after shakedown and all the mechanics worked so hard. Of course I was struggling a lot but at the end I had quite a good feeling with the car."
"It wasn't nice - probably the most difficult stage I have ever done. I was aquaplaning everywhere, so Lappi has done a good job. I am happy with my rally - it was only this stage that wasn't good."
"Horrible! It's the most difficult gravel stage I have ever done. There is so much water in the ruts and it was out of my control, but we survived."
"On a right-hander I had way too much ALS push. I couldn't get it stopped and I had to go on the grass. It was a very long and tough weekend. To build the confidence in the car has been very difficult and we have a lot of work to do to be on the proper level, but the team has done everything they can."
"I was just trying my best but everything was fogging up. A difficult weekend - we lost Malcolm's (Wilson) mum, Pearl, last night. For everybody in the service park, she was very much a Mother Hubbard - especially for the M-Sport family. We're thinking of her."
Spin
"This stage is really horrible. There was heavy rain and I couldn't see anything, so it was really difficult."
"It was raining so heavily at one point and we couldn't see. The car was aquaplaning so much but we survived. It was a very cautious run."
"I was on two cylinders..."
Engine issue
"I don't know. I tried to go as fast as I could, but there was a lot of water in the lines and I had a lot of aquaplaning. Normally it's the opposite way and we start last."
SS23
"I went into a ditch, otherwise quite calm. Bulacia was in a bad place, it was so slippery there."
"We drove a lot slower, too many surprises. Sometimes okay, sometimes no grip at all."
"We had a slight roll. Not good."
Rolled
"We had a halfspin. From the time it looks like we lost a stage win."
"We just survived. Preparing for Power Stage."
"The weather is not so enjoyable now. Really difficult at the beginning with a lot of standing water and a scary feeling in the car all the time."
"Feeling relieved to be honest. It was bad, but you never know how worse it can get - in some places there was no grip at all. You have to keep going because you know that, if someone has better conditions, they can have a real push."
"Let's see. We need to get to the finish of the Power Stage first..."
"I have zero confidence in these conditions with the car. It's incredible. We are driving like on ice."
"It's all good. At the start it was raining very heavily and in that kind of moment you are not looking forward to start!"
"I was quite careful. We had heavy rain and the grip was low and changing a lot. The last part was okay, but it was very tricky."
"It's a shiny road, so it doesn't give you much confidence. The grip is generally okay but in some places there are surprises."
"The centre console fell off and it hit the ignition button. Elliott tried to put it back and it stopped, so it was a bit dangerous!"
"It's actually quite tricky. There are some places in the forest that are quite wet and if you're on the limit you could get caught out quite easily."
SS22
Puncture & leaking damper
"We are trying to drive fast, still you have to be careful. Specially this one, it's really badly rutted. Several times we felt like it's going over in the ruts."
"We have car issues so we're just getting through. Hopefully we can get a result after this. Gonna be quite close after these stages. (Issue?) Rollbar related.."
"Let's see. Two more stages to go. This second pass was 1 second faster than the first one so it was quite okay."
"We had a mistake on the previous stage. We need to find a good balance between pushing and steady speed."
"Grateful to get through this piece of trash and can't wait for beautiful Kambja stage."
"It's always difficult when the rain is coming, but let's see how it will be in the Power Stage - that's far away from here. It will be interesting for sure."
"It's pretty rough at the start there now and easy to debead a tyre or something like that. It's not so exciting to be honest."
"It's been a long weekend and a tough job. It's been a shame as well - we had so much support. Let's see - we'll carry on."
"It was okay. I really struggled to drive the car all weekend and it's very difficult to be consistent. I was trying to manage the wheelspin and save the tyres for the Power Stage."
"We have to be at the end of the rally to score points for the team. We are trying to stay focused but we are not taking any big risks."
"The grip was much better than in the morning. We had a clean stage."
"It hasn't been easy this morning. I am lacking a lot of grip and we don't have any traction in the car. It's very hard at the moment."
"We're just trying to set it up for the Power Stage. The first time over it felt pretty nice, so we'll try our best."
SS21
Puncture
"Let's see how the conditions will be on the second pass. Now we need to save the tyres for the Power Stage and see what we can do. The stage was nice - we had a lot of grip."
"Quite soft in places, and the car is being snatched from one direction to the other quite easily. It's not easy."
"Honestly, far from good..."
"I got caught in a mid-speed left-hander. I went a bit wide and lost the rear - I couldn't do anything. We need to work on the seat somehow - it completely moved and now I am sitting offset from the steering wheel!"
"It was a very enjoyable stage, but some places are incredibly slippery. I thought the time would be pretty bad but it's actually quite good."
"All okay. We are not taking any risks and we want to finish the rally like that."
"It feels okay, but when I try to piush, the road is not wide enough. It feels impossible to drive really fast at the moment."
"The car is not so good on these roads. It's very fast and precise, and it's so loose being at the front on the road. In some places I just have no grip."
"For sure, there's a lot of cleaning. I had a 70 per cent run through the stage to make sure the notes were all correct for later on."
Spin
SS20
“Was fine, a bit careful over the jumps. Anyway, we have a small margin, we took some time in the morning.”
"It was a tricky one - a lot of line from the guys in front going wide everywhere. I felt like there was no grip on the car at all and I tried to make it through without any mistakes."
"I came in a bit hot, but the rear snapped away violently under braking. It was better to let it spin because we had plenty of space."
Off road moment
"There are many fundamental things that didn't go right [during the car's development] and now we are having to progress them as we go."
"On a junction I went a bit wide and I was a bit cautious on the last section. I really have no grip, so it's very hard to be fast."
"It's good. I feel quite comfortable, but I still have room for more pushing. I can be faster in the next run and I am quite confident."
"It's really, really easy to get wide and lose time. There is a lot of sweeping, but it's okay. I enjoyed that."
Spin
"Really nice. The conditions are beautiful and the surface is very consistent. I enjoyed it."
"I'm not exactly sure what's wrong, but it's something with the transmission I think."
Transmission issue
Spin
SS19
"It was not an enjoyable stage, but we made it through. That was the only thing we wanted to do and hopefully we can enjoy the loop of stages now."
"It's okay. It was a pretty careful run - there are so many stones and it's hard to know exactly where they are!"
"It's just a track - nothing fun in there. A clean stage."
"A clean stage for us. I was quite careful in there to not damage any tyres because the day is quite long with only five tyres. I am looking towards the Power Stage, but I'm not sure we are going to take a lot of points there."
"It's all okay, I was just very careful. Loubet had a hit but these kind of things can happen easily on this stage. I will push in the next one - it's no problem."
"I was just playing with the car and trying to enjoy it. It's an interesting time, so I am happy."
"Pretty okay. I am missing a few of the cuts - I was not deep enough. A clean stage."
"On the rocks, I touched one and broke the wheel. I don't know - we will see if we can fix it."
Damaged suspension
"I'm just trying a few things today to see if we can make a few improvements."
"There's a lot of cleaning and the Tarmac is very slippery. It's not an easy stage, but it felt clean and good."
SS17
"Of course I am just driving and this one was quite tough with big ruts. It was a clean stage from us, but nothing crazy."
"Realistically now there's quite a big gap. In this rally you need to be consistently chipping in the times and to be fair to Kalle, I've had no answer this afternoon - and even all day, to be fair. He's done very well so far."
"There's only one day [remaining] and there's nothing to push for. The rally is still quite interesting - the conditions are constantly changing and we still need to keep focused."
"It's been quite tricky to enjoy today after the puncture. It would be stupid to make a mistake now, but on the other hand, if you don't push then you lose the driving rhythm completely."
"I just had a clean drive. I tried to be a bit more confident in the ruts, but it's still hard to find the balance between pushing and being careful."
"Quite rutted in there, but a bit more consistent than the first pass. An easy run through for us."
"Of course, I have many things to improve but it's getting better a bit. Not as bad as yesterday, but I will need to work hard."
"It's been okay. The stages, no matter what, are really enjoyable. But this afternoon they have been really rough."
"I was always out of the ruts. I am struggling a lot and it was not very enjoyable today. When it's like this, you don't know what to do."
"It was quite slippery in the beginning and in the middle I was a bit too careful. It was not the best stage."
"We've had a really nice day. The car felt amazing, but it's hard to compare with our road position. I'm happy and I'm enjoying it, so [hopefully] more of the same tomorrow."
SS16
"We are just driving a good pace - there are not so many risks or anything. I think this is a good way to go."
"Pretty difficult to be honest. The ruts were really quite bad. Not easy."
"Really rough. Again, much more than we expected. The car was far too low so I was just driving to survive."
"I just drove slower. The ruts were really deep and the car is way too low. We just went safely."
"To be honest, none of the stages I really like. In the second pass they are really rutted and it's not so much fun."
"We had a lot of rain, so I was a bit careful because I was worried the grip would change a lot. It's a lot of time lost, but it's okay - we are still here."
"It was quite an enjoyable stage, but in some high-speed sections there are very deep ruts. The car is very unstable so it was very scary in a few places."
"The ruts are incredibly deep and we don't have the ground clearance. It just pushed me out of the line."
"With the rain it was tricky. I took no risks - I don't know what to do."
"I'll be the first person to praise this rally, but after the first pass the anti-cut pole was taken out of it. I couldn't see it. Whoever was first on the road was going to hit that."
"I had a massive moment - there was a big rut and the car bottomed out completely. With the rain and the slow wipers I couldn't see anything."
Changed a wheel
SS15
"I don't know - I am just driving normally. Nothing crazy. There were big ruts and I was trying to look after the tyres, but it was nothing special."
"It's only some corners where the ruts are really bad. We were on two wheels in one really tight corner, so they are a bit surprising sometimes."
"Feeling great."
"All good."
"It's still a long way to go and I was just enjoying. I was quite careful in some of the ruts because I don't want to get a puncture. I can be quite happy with that time."
"At the moment my confidence is building, but if it's raining in the next one I am not so sure."
"Okay - no problems. It's quite rutted in places, but all fine."
"It's okay, but I was sure I had a puncture at the beginning. I completely lost the rhythm."
"The first one was okay but in here I had so much understeer it's crazy. I am bottoming out a lot and I had one big moment - it's definitely not safe to drive."
"It's obviously a lot more rutted on this second pass and it's not so easy to manage, but it was okay."
SS14
"I don't know what it is on this stage, but it never feels good. I felt like I left a lot of time there, but the time is still good - I don't know."
"Obviously we're trying, but it's not easy. I made a few small errors I there and got caught out in a few braking zones. It's the same for everyone."
"Martin is never pushing me - I think it would be a bad idea for him to do that."
"I think we have done some nice movements already for the fans - I don't want to repeat those! We can not do much testing for Finland because the surface is so different. I am trying to build the confidence and enjoy driving."
"We are thinking and testing different things. It felt quite okay in this stage, but when the grip is changing I lose the positioning of the car and I have to correct. It's in those places where I lose the time because I stop the speed."
"It was a good stage for me - I am happy. I don't take risks and I just want to enjoy my stage."
"It's better than this morning, but still some places are a bit tricky. It's very difficult to judge the way things are coming and I need to be more calm in some places, but it's all good."
"It's not so bad - better than the morning for sure. There's a huge tree stump in one of the cuts at the end. It's come out of the ground and I had to avoid it, but that could be interesting for a few people."
"I tried to have a better feeling than this morning, but it's very tricky. In the forest it's wet and sometimes you lose the grip. I don't to take any risks - it's difficult in my position."
"I was a bit too sideways! Now it's more slippery than before, but I had an okay feeling with the car. It's hard to know where to push and where not to push."
"The conditions are very tricky in there. It's muddy in places and I was surprised in a few places. The ruts are really soft and you can't really load the car into them much."
SS13
"We have a good feeling now in the car. In the morning I was not as awake as I normally am and not where I wanted to be, but the last two were nice. The set-up was a bit better and I had more grip, so it was nice to drive."
Puncture
"It's hard to judge. It's pretty slippery in here and the grip is very changeable."
"It's very challenging and it was a big surprise for me. I didn't know anything about that."
"Quite a tricky stage. The grip was changing hugely and sometimes you had nothing. I got caught out completely on one junction."
"A clean loop for us. No real problems and we are trying to survive. Anything can happen and in the place we are, there is no reason to push. In the conditions like this it was actually quite fun in there."
"It was a clean loop for us. We are also checking pace notes and it was really tricky in that one, so I didn't take risks. The grip was very low with a lot of mud everywhere."
Spin
"I am just doing my job and it will be fine. It is getting better in some places but it also quite tricky. I am just trying to find the right confidence and feeling."
"After the puncture in the last one, we just want to get it to service. Nice and easy."
"Very difficult. It was like ice - I don't know. It was very tricky and I made two or three mistakes, so it was quite close."
"It was quite slippery. I took it easy because it is easy to do a mistake. I could push a bit more in a few places, but in many places I took it easy."
"Relatively happy. The car feels really great and the conditions have been great., That last stage was one of the more tricky from the recce, but I really enjoyed it."
SS12
"I was careful this time. I have had too many punctures in this stage before, so I just came through safely."
"Not great. At times things were working well, but in other places I was just a bit too careful. It's okay, but it could have been better."
"The first two were tricky, but when the grip was there I felt much better with the car. We made some small changes before the stage and now it was quite enjoyable to drive."
"Just on the landing, the rear tyre dropped from the rim. It doesn't matter - if you change a tyre on this kind of rally, it's done."
"The crack happened this morning in service, but it's getting bigger. We had a bad stage - the car was very strange and Martijn had a lot of pain after some landings, so we had to take it careful."
"We will see. The rally is still very long so I am not really worried. It's quite surprising the speed you can carry in these corners, but I had a clean run and I didn't take risks."
"I got some info about Gus, but I just concentrated and it was no problem. It was a very nice stage and I enjoyed it a bit. It was very high-speed and flowing."
"I was sideways over a jump and on the landing it debeaded."
Changed a wheel
"It was difficult. No grip for me and I have struggled a lot this morning to find the confidence."
Changed a wheel
"I got some grass in the radiator. I had to stop and clear it because the engine temperature was really high."
Stopped to clean radiator grid
SS11
"It was quite difficult to be honest. A lot of changes in the grip and there were some damp places. It was quite tricky overall."
"The plan is always to do what we can. It was not a perfect run in here, but okay."
"It was a clean stage, but it's getting a bit slippery in there now with the rain."
"It was pretty clean. There are always places to improve, but we made no mistakes. Everything is good."
"It was an okay stage. I went a bit hard on some corners and hit the bank here and there, but at least it was fun."
"It was okay. We had a little bit of rain, but it was only light. We had a clean stage and we are quite happy. I think the conditions will be a bit different in the afternoon, but it was nice."
"I am not driving to my maximum and I am step by step trying to push. In the narrow parts I didn't take any risks."
"It was better, but I just tried to be clean after the first one. It wasn't a great stage but it was a clean one."
"For me it was very slippery, so I am surprised by the time. It's not very good, but okay - we continue."
"It was okay, but quite a tricky stage and very slippery. I was pushing in some places, but I was not soo good in some others. We are just driving."
"They're beautiful conditions, The road is really nice and fresh conditions. The car is amazing and I'm enjoying it."
SS10
“Felt slippy. I tried to push and gain some time, but it’s not easy to catch him on these roads."
“It was fine, it was a beautiful stage. We tried to keep a good pace and make it difficult for Teemu to catch. A good stage to start with.”
"I had a really bad stage to be honest. I was losing seconds everywhere and I am not happy with my run at all."
"It was okay but I had a horrible start on the track. Other than that it wasn't too bad - grip was inconsistent, but it's all okay."
"The feeling is okay. We were just a bit late in the service, so I have to work on the brakes, but the car is okay."
"It's a little different than on the last one yesterday. Easy to improve."
"The profile is a bit different in here. I felt a bit more confident despite it being a new stage, but I am missing a bit of grip now. We have to find a good compromise and carry on - we have the whole day to find a better set-up."
"I was struggling a little bit with the set-up. We changed something yesterday and I think we need to go back. It's okay - I had a clean stage."
"The Tarmac section was very slippery, so basically on every corner I made a mistake! It's going to be a long day, so I need to think what I can do on each stage."
"At the beginning, there was a junction. I took it in third gear but it was closer to first! There was a very big jump as well and I was too far right and touched a bale. Not a good start."
"I didn't drive very well in this one. I need to get the confidence back after yesterday and I was a bit careful."
"My arms are okay this morning! After Ypres last year with 85km on Tarmac and no power steering, nothing beats that. The car is getting better and better, but we still have a lot of work to do."
"Quite beautiful. Of course, not the fastest, but it was a really enjoyable stage. I was quite messy at the start but it's all good fun."
SS9
Rolled
"It's been a very good day. I think we have been driving cleverly, like in the previous rallies. We pushed when we felt comfortable and played it safe when the risk of punctures was high with the ruts. We have a nice lead for tomorrow now, and hopefully we can have a good day. There's still a long way to go."
"I didn't know that Rally GB was back in the championship! The conditions are terrible and it's really crazy."
"I don't know why - I completely lost grip. It was very strange."
"I think it's been really consistent in terms of our pace. In the morning we lost more time because of the brake issue, but we survived. The afternoon has been much better."
"In the arena section just after a jump, I aquaplaned straight on. We managed to keep it going and we lost time, but it could have been worse."
"I think you can see what the story is. We were in the bushes right at the start, so after that it was a case of making sure we got through. There's nothing you can do when the conditions are like that."
"If I am honest, it has not been a really good day for me. I tried to step by step improve but obviously I have many things to work on, especially in these tricky conditions. Tomorrow, if the conditions are more stable, I will try to push more."
"A pipe came off the heater and we had no visibility..."
"I don't know if we can change a lot. We are a bit stuck with what we have at the moment. The target is to keep close to the podium and see what happens at the front. It's part of the game."
"The afternoon was good. I was happy that we could use our starting position a bit better and start to push a bit more when we had the grip. It will be interesting to see what happens to the guys behind.
SS8
Puncture
no power steering
Second puncture
"We spin in a junction and we had to use reverse to go back. The wipers are stuck on the windscreen now, so it wasn't easy but we managed it. It's part of the experience and these things happen."
"I did what I could. I saw some bad ruts and it was tricky, especially in the places where you have dark mud. If you take these places flat then you can make time, but I went just safely through."
"I have no wipers!"
"We've not got to the bottom of the issue, but we did some checks, swapped a tyre and made sure everything was tight. To be honest, it did feel a lot better in there."
Spin
"For me it was pretty difficult at the start with quite heavy rain. From mid-way it seemed to get better but it was very slippery at the start."
"Of course I am not really happy, but some sections are really tricky. Everything is fine, but I was a bit careful. It's better to continue like this for one more stage and then we can continue tomorrow."
"There was no rain for us, so it was clean."
"We had an okay stage and we will carry on."
"The beginning was really tricky with a lot of standing water but the middle and end parts were actually quite enjoyable."
SS7
“On this new narrow section, there was a rock in the line or something and that was it.”
“Everything was fine. Quite tricky with the lines in the beginning, trying not to take the tyre off the rim. Clean drive.”
“It was pretty okay, challenge is understanding the ruts because they are getting really big. Happy with my run.”
Puncture
"We had heavy rain at the start and it was really slippery. The view was quite nice because there was still some sun and we could see the drops! We made some changes with the set-up but we went too far, so we have to come back a little bit."
"I think it was a tree stump or a rock that got pulled out. I didn't see it anyway, but I felt it! I lost the power steering. This weekend is not going to plan - it's getting worse and worse."
"Full rain. The visibility was a bit on the edge sometimes and the grip was incredibly bad in some sections. The braking sections are fully muddy, but the time is quite okay considering that."
"We struggled. The windscreen wipers are not working. It's like in Portugal - I don't know."
"It was quite slippery, especially towards the end there. I was struggling in the ruts - it's a very, very soft stage. I didn't have the best feeling and the rain obviously didn't help."
"There's so much mud at the back, it's hard to see what's wrong. I'll have another look but there's something not right. Maybe the suspension geometry or something."
"It wasn't so good. At the end of the stage it started to rain heavily. I was a bit careful and I also had a big hit on the front right. After that the car didn't go straight, so I need to check that. It should be okay."
"I am watching my own rally at the moment. It's very hard to get the confidence and we are moving all around. I still have the feeling sometimes that we are driving on the limit so we still have to be careful."
"It was not affecting so much. We missed a junction in there."
"The driving line feels like there is no grip at all. Even when there is no mud, it's still really slippery. It's tricky having to open the road all the time."
SS6
Puncture
Puncture
"At the beginning, the ground was quite compact and there were not much ruts. But at the end it was very rutted and I didn't take any big risks."
"I don't know where it happened - maybe 8km from the end. On the straight it started to go down on the wide section."
"A slow puncture. I had to back off because I didn't want to damage the car like I did in Kenya."
"It's much better - the car is feeling good now. It's very easy to do a mistake in all the ruts."
"It's definitely better than in the morning! The team fixed the brakes but these are pretty rough conditions. A lot of grip changes and it's not easy at all, but at least the car is behaving well."
"Quite tricky to be honest. There was some rain going on the stage before we went and it was a bit muddy in places with some standing water in the ruts. I think it's not so bad, but the standing water will be cleaning for the guys behind."
"The conditions are tricky and I have no confidence in the car. I do not trust and I know I can not fight with the guys at the front this weekend. I have to stay clever and try to bring the car home - that's my main target."
"Quite slippery, actually. It's not working at all."
"I wanted to try a bit in the afternoon, but if the other stages are like this then I have to accept what I can do. Quite tricky in some places and the ruts are very unstable, so it's not very enjoyable."
"Pretty difficult. The grip is changing all the time with the standing water, but that's how it is."
SS5
“It’s been fine, really enjoying the stages. Not easy, we are already getting some ruts. Reading the road and seeing how to attack the ruts.”
“Was quite clean. We are getting used to the speed.”
“What can we say. It’s a fast rally! I think everybody knows it. Nice for us, I tried to improve our pace, tried to improve our setup. Step by step. Gonna be okay!”
“A bit better, but still not pleased. About 90 per cent me, 10 per cent car.”
“Just driving at the moment, we’ll go back to service and see what we can do. Going back to the drawing board.”
“The plan would be to avoid problems. The second loop is gonna be rough. We already lost a bumper and had a spin, need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“I tried to finish off the loop in a good way, I felt good in this stage and did a small attack. We managed to take some time and that’s good.”
“Could have been better. For us it was a good morning and we have been on a good level. Just need to keep pushing.”
"I just braked too late and I was thinking the grip was higher, but no! It's a small mistake - we lost a bit of time - but it's not so bad."
"We just need to get the driving back on the right way this afternoon and then do a good pace throughout the weekend after that."
"I don't know - we just have to work and I have to work. The pace is not great, so I honestly don't know. I am trying everything I can and doing a lot of different things, but I just have no grip at all. We have to look into it and understand why. Be positive - that's all I can do."
"This one is a little bit slower, but it was a clean stage for us and I am happy with the time and driving. I was a little more careful because there are some rocks and the grip was changing all the time. I am really happy with the loop and how it went."
"That's one of the nice things as a driver about coming to Estonia - we have so many different stages to drive and this one is one of my favourites."
"It's been pretty good overall. The car is working well and I have confidence behind the wheel, so that's good. We need to keep it up this afternoon - everything could look completely different and you can't take anything for granted."
"A bit of a shame that I lost quite a lot this morning, but that was the only way I could start this rally because many things happened the last few years. It's getting better and I just want to continue like that. Everybody is trying, but I will try to ignore it and just do my job."
"We made some changes and basically came back. I am driving very hard, but it's more like fighting and not driving very fast. I am looking to have a good lunch and then we will go again."
"I nearly spun on the first corner already and under slippery braking I have no traction. We took some steps to make the car stiffer and more precise but we went too far."
"It's been good. Nothing special really - we did what we could being the first car on the road. It was pretty slippery, but we are here. Let's see how tricky the second pass will be."
SS4
“Not pleased with the mornings first stages. Last year I couldn’t get going in them and this year is the same. This was more enjoyable.”
“(Engine issue?) Struggling with a couple of things at the moment.”
“Grip was incredibly poor in there. I missed a junction, spun and stalled so we had to get going again.”
“We just have to do some alterations in the service for afternoon. Happy with everything so far. When the stages are like this, more Finland characteristics, Teemu is faster.”
Car
“(You are faster!) That’s good news. (Push?) I tried, I tried.”
"I was enjoying so much in this stage. It's a beautiful stage and it's so fast - you can easily make a mistake. You have to stay in the line all the time, but I was enjoying a lot."
"I don't know. I have no grip - at all! I tried, but there is no confidence at all."
"It's very tricky and I need to change my driving style completely to try to manage. When you left foot brake, you have nothing. Normally I do that and now I can not do it. For the brain it's a bit tricky, but we are managing."
Stalled
"It was difficult because we lost a lot of downforce. Not easy in a section like that, but it's okay. We will continue, do some changes, and the afternoon will be better."
Spin
"The braking grip was very difficult to judge and we probably judged it a bit too late to be fair! We got it stopped, but it's tricky in here."
"I am not fully happy, but we are step by step getting better. It's okay, but more slippery than I expected."
Off road with damaged steering
"We tried to improve the car and I had so many surprises now. Something went wrong!"
"We made some changes, but I was fighting a lot to keep it straight. I am struggling a lot with these dampers as well - the car is are moving a lot. We need to work on that."
"It was not so bad in the beginning on the new road. The grip was higher than I expected and I think I was not so good on the beginning of the stage and it was quite loose, but I did everthing I could with the grip."
SS3
“Just keep driving and see what information we can get. I haven’t driven in ruts for four years, been spoiled by good roads for too long I guess.”
Hit a tree stump
“Pretty tricky. The last stage was worse. Not feeling confident, not driving as we want to.”
“The bumper is missing? I wasn’t happy with the stage because we had vibration in the front axle but that might be connected with the bumper.”
“I am not 100 per cent confident with the car in these conditions, so we have to do some changes in service. The lines are pulling the car in every direction. We had a clean stage.”
“It was in good condition and the grip level was good. It felt pretty good. Very nice battles so we have to fight for seconds and tenths of seconds.”
"Honestly, really interesting, mix of really fast, still quite narrow, new part is really narrow, grip is really challenging but I really enjoyed driving it."
“I found this one even more difficult. Different conditions and I didn’t like to drive at all. It’s OK."
"Not really, same issue still, maybe even worse. I am not sure what is wrong but I have the feeling we need to change the brakes at the service."
"I was in a rut, when I tried to go to the right the car did not come."
"The car actually feels like it is working pretty well but I'm really struggling to just find the rhythm and find confidence so it is not going so well at the moment."
"A bit more comfortable now, used to the speed, I felt some places to improve at the start."
"That was cleaning enough. I was not near enough committed. I was just too sideways in places trying to be too aggressive."
"It is OK, this stage I did not drive last year. Step by step. Next two stages I have experience on."
"Back to normal, nothing special, do not know what happened. Tricky in the woods, couple of mistakes but generally a clean run."
“I don’t feel so comfortable with the rear yet. I’m driving quite clean with a good speed. and I think that’s the best approach for us at the moment. Kalle and Ott are really fast and I hope we can be in the fight with Craig.”
"This one is cleaning a lot. The grip is much worse than I was thinking, The stage is drying up quite quickly. The beginning is cleaning a lot for the guys so I think we will lose a lot of time."
SS2
"I was really enjoying the stage, really nice to drive, all OK."
“Not happy. Just got no feeling at all, there are quite a few ruts already in there. A bit scary to drive like this.”
“Definitely happy, I got a bit mad in the middle because I thought I had a puncture and I took some corners carefully, after that continued normally.”
“To be honest, we didn’t have a good stage. I was lacking a bit of pace, struggling to get a good rhythm, I can go much faster for sure. Couple of mistakes on junctions, other than that it was okay.”
"Super narrow, tricky and technical. Need to be confident here."
"It's very difficult this stage, crazy. Never done it before so very difficult to get the notes and the confidence."
"I cannot explain. I'm missing the braking bite completely. The surface is OK but something strange with the pads. It feels it doesn't bite when I press the pedal so taking the confidence out."
"It was difficult, not a perfect stage. I was trying to be clean but not enough pushing."
"It wasn't a good stage. I never found a good rhythm and my braking points were not in the right place. Not a good start."
"It was not such a nice feeling to be honest. It was Ok at points but not full relaxed yet."
"Everything fine. The car feels great, really nice."
"I was way too careful. I did not drive this stage last year. I just need to see how it is going and how is the stage. As soon as we get the good feeling then I can go for sure."
"The car is quite OK. At the end lacking a bit of power, maybe the front grill was closed."
"We were lucky, we hit a rock quite hard."
SS1
"It's always difficult to think back in time. We have been doing our best since last year, but for sure, it's nice to be back. Hopefully we can make a good result again."
"We hope for a trouble-free event and we just want to have some fun and go as fast as possible on these beautiful roads. I have never been 100 per cent confident on these roads, but we'll see. Last year we ended up on the podium, so hopefully we can do that again."
"The event is fun. Outside the car it can be quite good, so let's see. On this stage I was stuck in a gear and things like this don't give you much confidence."
"It's not affecting my confidence too much because I have a very good feeling in the car. It was a small mistake and I can not take that feeling into the rally. I want to bring back a result to say thanks to the guys who fixed the car."
"Let's see. I was so careful of all the rocks in there and I was trying to be as clean as I could. It's a good start to the weekend and I am looking forward to tomorrow. These are amazing stages and I can let my hair down - flat to the square right!"
"I'm looking forward to this weekend. The car felt pretty good in shakedown, but obviously the big job starts tomorrow."
"In shakedown the car felt mega and it feels really good again in there. I'm looking forward to it."
"For sure, it's completely different for us this weekend. We will try to continue our progression and learn the feeling on these roads with this car. Step by step will be the main goal."
"I think our team principal has made it very clear there are no team orders. Definitely we can really do what we kind of want to, but I want to finish. That needs to be in our minds because two retirements in a row is not good."
"It's nice to be back on a proper gravel rally - it's been a very long time. I have won here twice before [in WRC2] and I had a great feeling a while ago, so hopefully I can get this feeling back."
"I want to enjoy this weekend. We have one of the most beautiful rallies of the season, so I need to find the pace. This one was a good practice and we had a clean run."
"We just need to have a good feeling in the car and high confidence. This rally is extremely fast but also narrow, so the line has to be precise."
"Everything was fine. It was quite slippery with less grip than I expected, but we had a clean stage. There are a lot of things to hit in that stage, so I just wanted to have a clean run."
"It's an awesome feeling. It has been a long time in the making to get a WRC event in Estonia and now it's becoming a regularity, so that's very nice."
"It's probably the smoothest stage we'll have all weekend, so it was good fun sliding around! The sun's out - hopefully it stays like that all weekend. It'll make things that little bit more enjoyable."
"Great fun! It's definitely an awesome experience to see what Kalle and Ogier have been feeling all these years! Definitely not easy."