Solberg seeks Rally Estonia reset as WRC pressure mounts

Oliver Solberg (above) returns to Rally Estonia, the scene of his breakthrough FIA World Rally Championship victory last year, looking to put momentum back into his misfiring challenge for the 2026 WRC title.

Twelve months ago, the high-speed gravel roads around Tartu delivered one of the WRC’s stories of the year. Back in a top-tier car for the first time since 2022 and making his first start in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, Solberg produced a stunning drive to claim his first WRC overall victory.

It was the kind of performance that changed expectations almost overnight.

Now, those expectations are part of the challenge for the 24-year-old Swede, whose win in the Baltic state proved the catalyst for a full-time Toyota Rally1 seat for ’26.

Making the most of a one-off Rally1 drive for Toyota. Oliver Solberg won last year’s Estonia Rally and earned a 2026 full-season seat. Red Bull Content Pool

Solberg arrives in Estonia fifth in the WRC drivers’ points and still very much among the fastest drivers in the field, but his recent run has been costly. Since winning the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, he’s often seen big opportunities slip away.

A mechanical issue interrupted his Safari Rally Kenya victory bid. In Croatia, his rally was effectively halted after a crash in the opening stage. In the Canary Isles, he crashed out of second place on Sunday morning while chasing teammate Sebastien Ogier for victory. Portugal brought a strong response and second overall, but Japan ended with another accident while he was applying pressure to rally leader Elfyn Evans.

Last month’s Acropolis Rally Greece continued the pattern. A puncture on Friday’s opening stage cost Solberg more than a minute, before an off on Saturday ended any hope of a meaningful result. He restarted and reached the finish in 16th, taking a single Super Sunday bonus point.

The speed has rarely been in doubt. The question now is whether Solberg can turn that pace back into a clean, complete rally. Estonia would be a fitting place to do it.

Based in Tartu, the rally is one of the WRC’s fastest gravel events, combining wide, flowing forest roads with blind crests, spectacular jumps, high-speed compressions and narrower technical sections. Commitment is essential, but so is accuracy. The margins are small and the punishment for even a minor misjudgment can be severe.

Solberg’s Toyota teammates arrive with their own storylines.

Championship leader Evans heads to Estonia with an 11-point advantage over Takamoto Katsuta after a damage-limitation run in Greece. Opening the road on Friday, Evans struggled for grip on the loose surface and later lost further time to two punctures, but post-rally penalties for Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux and M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean helped lift him to fifth.

Evans finished second in Estonia in 2022 and will again face the challenge of running first on the road on Friday’s loose gravel, effectively acting as unwitting road sweeper for the cars behind. Katsuta, meanwhile, makes his 100th WRC start and arrives fresh from his first Acropolis podium. Fast gravel has often suited the Japanese driver, although Estonia has yet to deliver anything better than fifth in 2022.

Ogier starts with momentum after a maximum-points weekend in Greece. The nine-time and reigning WRC champ world champion won the rally, Super Sunday and the closing Wolf Power Stage to move to within 37 points of Evans, keeping himself firmly in the title picture despite running only a partial program. Estonia will be Ogier’s first Rally1 start on these roads.

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier comes to Estonia with momentum after a maximum points haul on Acropolis Rally Greece. Red Bull Content Pool

Sami Pajari completes Toyota’s five-car factory fleet and has strong Estonia experience of his own. The Finn was seventh on his Rally1 debut here last year, finished on the WRC2 podium in 2023, and twice won the FIA Junior WRC category on these stages.

Hyundai Motorsport will look to break Toyota’s run of recent success with Thierry Neuville, Fourmaux and Esapekka Lappi.

Neuville has finished on the podium in the last two WRC editions of Rally Estonia and led for much of the Acropolis before Ogier’s Sunday charge swung the fight Toyota’s way.

Fourmaux also had rally-winning pace in Greece, winning five stages and leading early on before repeated punctures derailed his weekend.

Lappi, third in Estonia in 2023, returns for the third outing of his 2026 part-time campaign and brings proven fast-gravel pedigree.

M-Sport Ford’s challenge will be led by full-timers Josh McErlean, Jon Armstrong and part-time entry Martins Sesks in a trio of Puma Rally1s. McErlean produced his strongest WRC performance yet in Greece, while Armstrong claimed his first top-level stage win before trouble struck. Latvia’s Sesks, eighth in Estonia last year, should be more at home on the fast gravel roads that helped build his reputation.

The rally features 18 special stages and 187.5 competitive miles. Friday opens with two passes each of Raanitsa, Karaski and Kanepi before the Elva linn super special, while Saturday is the longest leg of the rally at 92.96 stage miles. Sunday is built around two runs of the 15.16-mile Kaariku test, the second forming the rally-ending, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage.

• Catch WRC action from all rounds of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship on RACER Network and the RACER+ App. Tune in on Monday, July 20 at 9.00pm ET for full highlights from Rally Estonia.  
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