The 18-year-old rising star was showing promising pace on Friday morning and, after three stages, was the fastest Finnish driver in the WRC2 class. However, things took a turn for the worse on the fourth special stage.
Kauppinen hit a rock with his Toyota, and the damage was severe enough that he and his co-driver Sebastian Virtanen were forced to retire from the rally.
So far, WRC2 has been dominated by local Estonian drivers. Robert Virves holds a commanding lead in the class heading into the afternoon loop.
Virves has pulled 33.3 seconds clear of fellow Estonian Georg Linnamäe — a massive gap in such a fast-paced event.
Among the Finnish contingent, Lauri Joona has been the quickest so far. He sits in fourth place, 40.4 seconds off the lead.
Rautio Motorsport’s Roope Korhonen is currently fifth, while Mikko Heikkilä holds seventh place.
Another big disappointment came for pre-event favourite Nikolay Gryazin, who competes under the Bulgarian flag. Gryazin broke his car’s suspension on Friday’s first stage of the day and was also forced to retire.
Three more stages will be run on Friday in Rally Estonia. The rally concludes on Sunday.
