Tänak's teammate and reigning world champion Thierry Neuville (Belgium) won stage one on Thursday evening.

Round eight of the 2025 season, Rally Estonia returns to the full WRC calendar after a year's absence, when its place was effectively taken by Rally Latvia. The race has been held in South Estonia since 2010, becoming a full WRC stage a decade later.

This year's route totals 20 stages over 308.35 km, and as is traditional with WRC events, Thursday featured a shakedown run (won by double world champion and Toyota driver Kalle Rovanperä of Finland) and a short stage proper, in front of spectators.

2019 champ Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja enter the race with great momentum after winning Rally Greece at the end of last month, his first win of this season. "We've had three tough rallies behind us, where we showed strong performances," he said before his home rally, which is followed by the near-home Rally Finland.

"Now a new challenge awaits – Rally Estonia, the first of two very fast and flowing gravel rallies. I really enjoy driving on fast gravel roads, as those were the roads I learned to rally on," Tänak went on.

The Estonian said the correct car setup will be crucial in both Estonia and Finland. "Both rallies require a clean performance because speeds are high and time differences are very small. The car setup must be precise, and aerodynamics will play a big role," he explained.

Tänak's recent strong performances have boosted him up to third place in the overall standings going into Rally Estonia, on 138 points, behind only two Toyota drivers: Welshman Elfyn Evans – fresh off giving a demonstration drive with Prime Minister Kristen Michal in the co-driver's seat and hungry for his maiden title (150 points), with veteran eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier (France) nine points behind Evans. Rovanperä is in fourth place on 117 points, while Neuville is down in fifth place on 96 points ahead of the Estonian race.

On Thursday, Neuville put in a time of 1:42.9 to win stage one. Evans was 0.5 seconds behind him, Tänak just a tenth of a second behind Evans, and Rovanperä a full second behind the stage winner. Virves, racing in the WRC2 category, came next, 1.2 seconds slower than Neuville, and Toyota's Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top six.

Several other Estonians are competing in the lower-tier Rally2 category, namely Romet Jürgenson and his co-driver Siim Oja (Ford), Georg Linnamäe and his British co-driver James Morgan, along with the pairings of Egon Kaur - Allan Birjukov (Škoda), Joosep Ralf Nõgene - Aleks Lesk (Toyota), and Travis Pärs - Aigar Pärs (Peugeot, in the Rally4 category).

Linnamäe (Toyota; +2.1) also put in an impressive drive, tying with Finnish neighbor Tuukka Kauppinen (Toyota; +2.1) for eighth place.

The race continues Friday from 9.16 a.m., the first full day of competition, with the 24.35 km Peipsiääre 1 stage.

Six more stages follow on Friday, the last starting at 7.15 p.m. (Elva linn).

Saturday brings seven more stages on the South Estonian gravel, with the final day, Sunday, starting at 9.39 a.m. with the first of two regular stages, culminating in the Kääriku 2 power stage at 1.15 p.m.

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