The 24-year-old Virves won the Junior World Rally Championship title in the 2022 season and has since been seeking an opportunity to showcase his talent. Now, the opportunity has arrived, as in the 2025 season, Virves will compete in a full seven-round programme in the WRC2 class.
Virves will race with the German Toksport team in a Škoda Fabia Rally2 car. The season is set to start in Portugal in May. It is expected to include Rally Sardinia, as well as his home event in Estonia in July and Rally Finland at the beginning of August. However, Virves did not reveal a more detailed schedule.
“I am delighted to announce that together with Jakko Viilo we will be running full WRC2 program with Toksport WRT, which is supported by Škoda Motorsport, starting from Rally Portugal,” Virves shared on social media.
“However, the plan for the whole year is to compete even more, so definitely it’s a busy year ahead us!”
Virves will also take part in the Rally Sweden in a couple of weeks with Škoda machinery. However, the snow rally will not be a points-scoring event for the Estonian. Last season, Virves competed in four WRC rallies. In Poland, he impressively finished third in the WRC2 class, and in Greece, he secured a remarkable second place.
In 2024, Virves suffered two extremely bitter defeats. In the ERC Rally Estonia, he narrowly lost out to his compatriot Georg Linnamäe by just 2.2 seconds. Linnamäe drove the Power Stage special stage an astonishing 11.5 seconds faster than Virves.
Even more agonising was his loss to Sami Pajari in the Greek WRC rally in September. Pajari had a comfortable half-minute lead before the final stage but suffered a puncture. At the finish line, both drivers had the exact same overall time. However, Virves was denied his first WRC2 rally victory because Pajari had been faster on the opening stage of the rally.
In recent years, the Estonian has often relied on crowdfunding to secure his participation in rallies, allowing him to compete regularly but never in a full international championship. In addition to his Junior WRC title, Virves also holds junior championship titles in Estonia and Latvia.
