The short 2.5-kilometer Harju opening stage saw Tänak, currently topping the driver's table after a run of strong results going back to late May, put in the fastest shakedown time, of 2:15.1, on his second outing.

However, the Toyota pair of Takamoto Katsuta and Sébastien Ogier put in 1.3 second- and 0.4 second-faster times in the third run, pushing the Estonian down to third, and Irishman Josh McErlean (Ford) on his fifth outing put in a run one-tenth of a second faster than Tänak.

Tänak was followed by Toyota drivers Kalle Rovanperä (2:15.7) and Elfyn Evans (2:16.1), with Tänak's Hyundai teammate Adrien Fourmaux (2:16.0) separating those two, and reigning world champion and Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville finishing ninth with a time of 2:16.9 on his second run.

The fastest driver in the WRC2 category was Oliver Solberg, shock winner at the recent Rally Estonia, with a time of 2:21.5.

Estonian Robert Virves (Škoda) was 3.7 seconds behind him and shared fifth place with Joona Lauro, while Georg Linnamäe (Toyota) was 3.8 seconds behind and placed seventh.

The other Estonian competing in the WRC2 category, Romet Jürgenson, recorded a time of 2:25.9.

Stage one proper starts at 7.05 p.m. tonight, Estonian and Finnish time, and as standard the race runs through to Sunday.

Tänak, world champion in 2019, tops the table with 162 points, one point ahead of Evans.

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