Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy up to 10th after first leg of Delfi Rally Estonia
During Friday's seven high speed stages the Kilrea driver and his Killeagh co-driver Eoin Treacy showed good form and ended the first leg in tenth place.
It was a spectacular day for Swedish ace Oliver Solberg, back behind the wheel of a Rally1 car for the first time in almost three years, the 23-year old, onboard the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, leads the way - 12.4s ahead of home hero Ott Tanak (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) with reigning World champion Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) just 1.2s further behind in third.
Solberg, a regular WRC2 competitor took his maiden WR stage win on the morning opener (SS2) to move into a 5.3s, he was also quickest on the repeat stage and held an 8.5s lead over Tanak at service.
With a beaming smile, he enthused: "It's the best car I have ever driven. I am just enjoying and if I need to back off, I will back off, but so far I am just building up step by step.'
Surprisingly Tanak, who was best on SS3 and SS5, opined that he struggled for confidence. McErlean had a trio of top ten stage times and held ninth and the top M-Sport Ford driver.
Fourmaux, Solberg and Neuville took stage wins during the afternoon where McErlean admitted that one of the ruts almost took the steering wheel from his hands. As he gained in confidence, his commitment levels also increased, however, he couldn't prevent team mate Martin Sesks from leapfrogging him into ninth.
Winning the unofficial "drift" competition at the roundabout on the day's final but shortest stage, McErlean said: "We were chatting about it at the start of the stage, I channelled my inner Conor Shanahan from the Red Bull Event (Spike Island), at least we have won something today."
On a more serious note, he added: "It's been good, we are not that far away from Martins (Sesks). It's more about the feeling and the confidence in the car. I think we can improve a lot still, it's just trusting that last bit with the pacenotes and the feeling.
"Yeah, a lot more to come from me and Eoin rather than the car."
Championship leader Elfyn Evans (Toyota Gr Yaris Ral1y1) had a tough day running first on the road and sweeping the loose gravel, he ended the day in seventh. There are nine stages today (Saturday) and three on Sunday.
Delfi Rally Estonia (Round 8, World Rally Championship) Tartu
1. O. Solberg/E. Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)1h. 06m. 33.4s
2. O. Tänak/M. Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+12.4s
3. T. Neuville/M. Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+14.2s
4. K. Rovanperä/ J. Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+20.1s
5. A. Fourmaux/A. Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+ 29.8s
6. T. Katsuta/A. Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+30.0s
7. E. Evans/S. Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+41.4s
8. S. Pajari/M. Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+1m. 05.1s
9. M. Sesks/R. Francis (Ford Puma Rally1)+1m. 11.4s
10. J. McErlean/E. Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1)+1m. 30.0s.
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