Ott Tänak may have retired from World Rally Championship (WRC) racing at the end of the 2025 season, but there are two Estonians competing in the WRC’s second tier, at the ongoing Safari Rally, in Kenya.
Romet Jürgenson (Ford) and Robert Virves (Škoda) both finished in the top five in the WRC2 category at Thursday morning’s shakedown run at Rally Kenya, round three of the 2026 championship.
Jürgenson was second only to Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen (Škoda), who set the fastest time of 4:53.9 over the 6.31 km stage. The Estonian was just 0.6 seconds slower, while his compatriot, Virves, was 7.5 seconds behind Mikkelsen in 5th.
In the overall standings in the shakedown, won by shakedown was topped by Ott Tänak’s former teammate Thierry Neuville in the Hyundai, the Estonians placed 12th and 15th respectively.
Neuville completed the with the fastest time of 4:33.1, beating second-placed Oliver Solberg (Toyota) by 1.8 seconds. The next three positions were taken by Toyota men as well: Sami Pajari (+2.2), Elfyn Evans (+2.4), and Sébastien Ogier (+2.6).
Two stages are to be run on Thursday, the first of which (Camp Moran 1; 24.35 km) got underway a little after 3 p.m.
Safari Rally Kenya became a full WRC event in 2020.
Tänak finished second in his final Rally Kenya in 2025, and also finished on the podium, in third place, in 2021.
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