Jon Armstrong finished ninth overall after suffering a puncture early on Saturday morning, whilst Josh McErlean retired early on Saturday due to a mechanical issue. Romet Jürgenson fought consistently with local talent in the Fiesta Rally2 car to finish eighth in the WRC2 category.
FINAL CLASSIFICATIONS
WRC / OVERALL
7th: Mārtiņš Sesks / Renārs Francis
9th: Jon Armstrong / Shane Byrne
43rd: Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy (SR)
WRC2
8th WRC2 / 18th Overall: Romet Jürgenson / Siim Oja
EVENT SUMMARY
The M-Sport crews took on a condensed Rally Estonia, with shakedown and a full afternoon of competitive action both scheduled for Friday. An incident on Sesks' final shakedown run gave the team a demanding few hours to rebuild the car before the start of the event.
Friday's seven stages ran back-to-back, broken only by a 15-minute remote tyre fitting zone. An early puncture in the second loop cost Armstrong ground, but Sesks and McErlean closed the opening day sixth and eighth overall respectively.
Saturday brought an exhaust manifold failure for McErlean and Treacy on SS8, forcing their retirement for the day, restarting on Sunday. Sesks and Armstrong ran seventh and ninth overnight after a demanding day on Saturday.
In WRC2, Jürgenson and Oja contested a strong home entry alongside Estonian and Finnish rivals, taking a run of competitive stage times. Delivering top-ten stage times throughout, and a fifth-fastest WRC2 time on SS12 helped place them eighth overall in the category.
After clean runs through both passes of the Kääriku stage, Sesks and Armstrong secured top ten finishes on Sunday, with seventh and ninth overall.
Richard Millener, M-Sport Ford Team Principal, said: "Once again there are a lot of positives to take away from here, on what is one of the fastest rallies of the year. We saw some great performances from all the drivers and, although the end results were maybe not as high as we had hoped, I think we still had a strong showing. It's good for the crews because they now have less than two weeks before we start Rally Finland, so they're nice and fresh for another event where we can try to improve further and show the pace of both the Rally1 and the Rally2 again.
"Finally, a big thank you to the Rally Estonia organisers; one of the best in the championship, always looking for new ideas. This year they introduced the shorter format, which I thought was really good and allowed us to do as much rallying as normal but in one day less, which is a huge saving for a team that is always incredibly busy. A big well done to them, and hopefully we'll be back here again soon.
CREW SUMMARIES
FORD PUMA RALLY1
#22 Mārtiņš Sesks / Renārs Francis
An incident during Friday morning's shakedown left Sesks' car needing a considerable rebuild before the rally start. The crew checked into TC0 two minutes late, incurring a 20-second penalty that would shape their position in the overall standings. Despite that, Sesks began the afternoon’s opening loop on good form, going sixth-fastest through SS1 and third on the following stage as he set about recovering the lost time.
That form held through the second afternoon loop. He was third-fastest on SS6, matching the times of Hyundai's Neuville and Fourmaux exactly, before taking second on the day's final stage, just 0.1 seconds off rally leader Pajari. It left him sixth overall at the end of a day that had begun so unfortunately.
Saturday morning brought a measured drive until Sesks clipped a bank on SS9 and picked up a front-right puncture. The damage cost only a few seconds, though it was enough to drop him behind Evans in the overall classifications. With no spare tyre remaining for the following two stages, he and co-driver Francis ran cautiously to service while staying close to the pace of teammate Armstrong.
The afternoon loop yielded sixth and seventh-fastest times, with Sesks holding station on Evans and going sixth-fastest again on the final stage of the day. He ended Saturday seventh overall, 13.4 seconds behind Evans.
Two good runs through Sunday’s final stages secured a seventh overall finish for the Latvian crew, a positive result after a difficult start to the weekend.
Mārtiņš Sesks, 7th overall, said: "All in all I think it was a weekend with positives. We did a good job on Friday with our limited experience, and looking ahead to Finland, Friday's performance is a good positive - it has a lot of similarities with Finland. The rest of the rally was about managing; we did okay, but I wouldn't say great. I'd say it's good preparation for Finland, where the grip is higher and maybe we can be a bit more competitive there."
#95 Jon Armstrong / Shane Byrne
Armstrong's weekend began with an early setback, going wide over a jump on the opening stage and picking up a puncture. He managed to nurse the car to the end of SS1 without stopping, losing only 19.6 seconds to teammate McErlean but dropping down to 11th overall behind Sesks.
He gained some rhythm after the tyre fitting zone; concentrating on consistency through the demanding stages and shifting conditions of the second afternoon loop, Armstrong went seventh fastest on SS6 and closed the opening day tenth overall.
Running early in the road order on Saturday, Armstrong had to contend with road cleaning through the tight, twisty stages. Grip remained a struggle into the afternoon loop, so he concentrated on a clean run to the end of the day, fighting with Katsuta in the stage times and finishing Saturday ninth overall. With a few overnight set-up changes to be made ahead of Sunday, Armstrong would focus on making an impact in the final two stages.
Two measured drives through Sunday’s Kääriku stage saw Armstrong and Byrne through to ninth overall, a good result on their first fast gravel event in the Rally1 car.
Jon Armstrong, 9th overall, said: "It was a bit of a tricky start to the rally, we had the tyre debead on the first stage, over the jump, and then we struggled to make back the time we'd lost. But even without that we'd only have gained one position; the difference was the road position we lost going into Saturday, and we don't know how much we could have gained with that.
"Overall we're happy with the pace. When you gauge it against Josh and Mārtiņš in the same car it's looking quite good, so we're happy with that, and we're looking forward to Finland - it's going to be a good experience in one of these cars."
#55 Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy
Fresh from their career-best result in Greece, McErlean made a steady start on Friday's opening loop, settling into the rhythm of the high-speed stages. Pace built as the day went on, measured against the strong stage times set by teammate Sesks, but McErlean took sixth-fastest on SS5 and closed the day eighth overall, well placed going into Saturday.
Saturday's progress was cut short by a fault with the exhaust manifold, which caused the engine to cut out on SS8, dropping them just over 10 minutes in total. The pair were able to patch the problem and reach the end of SS9, but ultimately the problem forced them to retire for the day, and the car was recovered to service.
Restarting on Sunday morning, a small moment on SS17 would provide a wake-up call for McErlean and Treacy, but they would recover with a clean run through the final Power Stage. Boosted by their performance earlier in the weekend, the Irish pairing will look forward to more fast gravel opportunity in Finland in less than two weeks.
Josh McErlean, 43rd overall, said: "It was a bit frustrating, obviously, what happened on Saturday, but our pace on Friday was nice. Sunday was a bit of a struggle starting first on the road, but we'll keep learning and we have plenty of positives to take into Finland. It's a big reset for the team this week, and we'll push on in Finland."
FORD FIESTA RALLY2
#35 Romet Jürgenson / Siim Oja
Jürgenson and Oja faced a competitive class entry at their home event. A sixth-fastest run on SS2 started them off strong, and they sat tenth overall in WRC2 ahead of Friday's tyre fitting zone, only 10.7 seconds off the class leader; an indication of how tight the fight was between these experienced crews. More consistency on the afternoon loop saw him finish the day ninth overall in WRC2, looking to unlock more pace on Saturday.
Saturday morning saw the pair gain two positions after the opening stage, and with two seventh-fastest times on both SS10 and SS11, they would hold seventh overall in WRC2 before the midday service. An impressive fifth-fastest run through SS12, 6 seconds off the top time, set a positive tone for the afternoon.
This hard work was sadly undone early on SS13, when Jürgenson clipped a fence post on the landing from a blind crest and picked up a rear-right puncture, costing them over 40 seconds on the stage. They responded with fourth-fastest on the following test, and ended Saturday ninth overall in WRC2.
The Estonian pair would finish their weekend on strong form, going sixth-fastest on SS17 and fourth-fastest on the Power Stage - their joint-fastest stage time all weekend - to secure eighth overall in the WRC2 category on their home event.
Romet Jürgenson, 8th WRC2, 18th Overall, said: "That’s Rally Estonia done. It started off a bit difficult for us, we didn't really get up to speed and I wasn't really happy with my driving. But on Saturday we were able to improve a bit, the car and my feeling as well, and we were in a decent spot. Overall I'd say it was a bit of a difficult weekend with the unfortunate puncture as well, but that's been the case a little this season. I don't know how to get rid of the bad luck, but hopefully we can improve on this pace in Finland."
