Oliver Solberg announced his return to the FIA World Rally Championship's headline category in eye-catching fashion on Friday, storming to a lead of 12.4sec at Delfi Rally Estonia.
Driving a GR Yaris Rally1 on what is currently a one-off outing for Toyota Gazoo Racing, Swedish youngster Solberg stunned the field by romping to three fastest times on lightning-fast gravel roads in southern Estonia and led for the first full day's entirety.
The 23-year-old, who is co-driven by Britain's Elliott Edmondson, collected his first-ever WRC stage win on the first test through Peipsiääre before backing it up on the repeated pass to reach the mid-leg service halt 8.5sec clear of 2019 WRC champion Ott Tänak.
Set-up changes between loops helped Solberg unlock more traction in the afternoon, allowing him to extend his margin over home hero Tänak - who had earlier taken two stage wins of his own.
"To be leading the rally and to have won a few stages, and to have this amazing feeling in the car, you know - this day has been all about fun," Solberg grinned. "I don't know what to say - It's just been the best day of my life."
Tänak - victorious last time out in Greece - was roared on by thousands of fans but couldn't quite find the flow needed to trouble Solberg's pace.
"It's just so loose and [there's] no grip whatsoever," he said. "I did everything I could, it is as it is at the moment."
Thierry Neuville was third, just 1.8sec behind team-mate Tänak. The Belgian led after Thursday night's super special but admitted he was still "fighting" with his Hyundai i20 N Rally1's balance and grip throughout the day.
Toyota's Kalle Rovanperä, a three-time winner in Estonia, found himself 5.9sec back from Neuville in fourth. "It's pretty much the maximum we can do with this car and the current feeling," the Finn reflected.
Adrien Fourmaux endured a muted morning on his first high-speed gravel rally in Hyundai colours but bounced back to win Kambja 2 after set-up tweaks improved his car's stability. He ended the leg fifth overall, two-tenths of a second ahead of Takamoto Katsuta - who lost time in the morning with an overshoot and intercom issues.
Elfyn Evans, first on the road as championship leader, struggled for traction and languished in eighth - ahead of Toyota colleague Sami Pajari, whose morning was hampered by intermittent power loss.
Mārtiņš Sesks and Josh McErlean rounded out the top 10 in M-Sport Ford Pumas, split by 18.6sec. Grégoire Munster was 11th after a difficult day that included brake issues, a tyre deflation and an overshoot.
End of day two (Friday):
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 1h06m33.4s
2 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +12.4s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +14.2s
4 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +20.1s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +29.8s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +30.0s
7 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +41.4s
8 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m05.1s
9 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m11.4s
10 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m30.0s
(Results as of 20:00 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
What's next?
Saturday is the longest day of the rally with 125.76 competitive kilometres to be driven across nine stages following a similar format to Friday: the Raanitsa and Kanepi stages are tackled twice in the morning before mid-day service, with Otepää and Karaski run twice in the afternoon before a return to the Tartu super special rounds out the day.
