Heavy rain made the roads muddy and the ruts filled with water. This particularly affected the leading cars of Mathieu Franceschi, Hayden Paddon, and Mads Østberg. The top three had to clear the water-filled ruts, resulting in significant time losses. This bodes poorly for the actual race, as starting positions for the rally are chosen based on qualifying times.
Paddon was only the 14th fastest, just ahead of Franceschi. Østberg, who joked about performing rain dances, likened driving to a lottery. The Norwegian managed to secure 11th place. The fastest time on the 3.81-kilometre Räbi special stage was set by the host country’s Georg Linnamäe, who beat Nikolay Gryazin by 0.8 seconds. Mikko Heikkilä, who finished second in the previous round in Sweden, was third in the qualifying, 1.1 seconds behind the leader.
“I can say the same thing as Mads. Really tricky, lots of water on the road. It’s just like lottery,” Heikkilä remarked at the stage finish.
Skoda driver Robert Virves was fourth, ahead of Gregor Jeets and Benjamin Korhola. Martins Sesks, who impressed in the last WRC rally in Poland, was the seventh fastest, 1.7 seconds off the pace.
“I wasn’t as clean as I wanted to be. It is not easy to switch with the cars every weekend! Of course the rain makes some difference with everything,” Sesks said.
“Fifth fastest? Okay! I missed the last junction and I went too fast in. Otherwise, it was quite okay. Difficult with the conditions as I couldn’t know the grip, but it is the same for everybody,” Korhola summarised.
The Estonian ERC rally kicks off on Friday evening. The competition includes a total of 14 special stages. The rally concludes on Sunday.
Results of the Estonian ERC rally qualifying stage:
1. Georg Linnamäe Toyota 2:00.5 2. Nikolay Gryazin Citroen +0.8 3. Mikko Heikkilä Toyota +1.1 4. Robert Virves Skoda +1.2 5. Gregor Jeets Toyota +1.3 6. Benjamin Korhola Hyundai +1.7 7. Martins Sesks Toyota +1.7 8. Simone Tempestini Skoda +1.8 9. Miko Marczyk Skoda +2.0 10. Jon Armstrong Ford +2.2 11. Mads Østberg Citroen +2.9 12. Andrea Mabellini Skoda +3.1 13. Mathieu Franceschi Skoda +3.6 14. Hayden Paddon Hyundai +4.4 15. Kaspar Kasari Ford +5.0 16. Frank Tore Larsen VW +5.4 17. Teemu Asunmaa Skoda +9.8
