On Rally Estonia with Pirelli, Kalle Rovanpera broke the record for the youngest driver to win a World Rally Championship event, at the age of 20 years and 290 days, displacing his Toyota teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, who won the Swedish Rally at the age of 22 years and 313 days in 2008. (also on Pirelli tyres, in a Ford Focus WRC).
Rovanpera led home Hyundai's Craig Breen, who equalled his best-ever performance on his first taste of Pirelli's gravel WRC1 tyres, on some of the quickest roads seen all year. Another Hyundai, driven by Thierry Neuville, completed the podium, while Toyota's Sebastien Ogier maintained his championship lead with fourth place.
THE WINNING TYRE
For the first time, the soft version of the Pirelli Scorpion KX was chosen as the primary compound, with each driver having access to 24 soft tyres and only eight hard tyres. This was despite abnormally warm weather in Estonia, even for July, with ambient temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius and ground temperatures exceeding 35 degrees. The soft tyre's outstanding grip was perfectly suited to Estonia's small and fast gravel stages – with average speeds in the area of 130kph – as well as the punishment and forces imposed by the rapid jumps and peculiar circumstances.
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TERENZIO TESTONI, PIRELLI RALLY ACTIVITY MANAGER
“Congratulations to Kalle on this incredible new record achieved with us: he made his competitive debut in a World Rally Car with Pirelli back in 2017 at the Bologna Motor Show, where he won the Memorial Bettega, so to see him reach this milestone now after such a fast and mature drive is very satisfying. In spite of the unexpectedly high temperatures, the soft tyres – nominated for the first time as the main choice – performed extremely well here. With the hot weather, rapid stages, and phenomenal levels of downforce produced by the current Rally 1 cars – the fastest in the history of the sport – our Scorpion KX tyres were performing at the limit: tread temperatures in excess of 140 degrees centigrade were sometimes registered at the end of stages.”
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THE MOST DIFFICULT CHALLENGE
In the Rally Estonia with Pirelli, the heat and pace of the stages were the greatest obstacles, necessitating centimetre-perfect precision aided by local knowledge. Ott Tanak, a local hero who set the majority of the quickest stage times, was forced to retire from Friday's first leg after going off while recovering from a puncture that cost him 26 seconds. Accurate pace notes were required, as were tyres capable of handling the continuous high speeds. Over the course of the 24 stages, the new structure introduced by Pirelli for Estonia performed admirably, with no serious issues experienced by any of the drivers.
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