Estonia's Robert Virves wins Rally Safari Kenya WRC2 category
Estonia has a new rally star following Ott Tänak's retirement from the top-level at the end of last year, in Robert Virves, who won the second-tier WRC2 category at the weekend's Rally Safari Kenya.
This was the Estonian's first appearance in the World Rally Championship this season, and he also beat out several big names in the overall standings to place fifth in Kenya.
Virves, 25, and co-driver Jakko Viilola, took the lead in the Škoda Fabia on Friday afternoon and never let it go. Consistency was key here: While Virves did not win a single stage, he placed highly every single time, heading off Briton Gus Greensmith (Toyota) by 30.3 seconds and Paraguay's Fabrizio Zaldivar (Škoda) by 41.3 seconds, in the WRC2 category.
"I have to admit, it's an amazing feeling," Virves said post-race. "I wasn't a big fan before, but I think we experienced the Safari rally the right way and to go through it without any problems... an unbelievable achievement for the team and everyone involved."
This was Virves' second win in the WRC2 category, and the first outside of his home country; his maiden victory came at Rally Estonia last year.
In the overall standings for the race (ie. with top tier WRC finishers included), Virves has now matched his career-best result, as he finished fifth in Greece two years ago.
The other Estonian competitor, Romet Jürgenson, and his co-driver Siim Oja, had a less successful time of it in the Ford Fiesta, retiring temporarily on the Thursday, rejoining on the Friday but then having to retire for good due to engine issues.
Several big names in the rally world also faced various problems in Kenya and finished the race only in the super rally classification, meaning they were far from the top spots: Oliver Solberg (Toyota) was 10th, reigning and nine-time champion Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) was 11th, Tänak's former teammate at Hyundai Thierry Neuville came 12th and Elfyn Evans was 13th for Toyota.
In any case it was a Toyota man who won in Kenya, however – Japan's Takamoto Katsuta in his maiden WRC win with a time of 3:16:05.6, 27.4 seconds ahead of Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux. The rest of the pack was far behind. Finnish driver Sami Pajari (Toyota), who finished third, was 4 minutes and 26.1 seconds off the winner.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Siim Boikov
