Robert Virves has now become the first-ever Estonian FIA Junior WRC champion after clinching the title today at the 2022 EKO Acropolis Rally Greece piloting his M-Sport Poland built four-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta Rally3 to victory.
The rally started with a four-way fight for the title but as the defending champion Sami Pajari from Finland retired on Friday and Pajari´s fellow compatriot Lauri Joona suffered suspension failure which cost time, it got reduced down to a two-way fight between Virves and the Britoin Jon Armstrong for the rest of the rally.
Virves took the class lead early on Friday with over one-minute ahead that evening after Armstrong stopped to change a wheel due to a puncture and started the last day of the rally with a 53.2 seconds lead over Armstrong. Armstrong managed to pull back 19.6 seconds on Virves on the opening stage of the day but Virves was faster over the rest of the day and ended the rally by winning with a 17.5 seconds margin to the Britoin – which secured the Estonian the title.
“I’m really, really happy, I am not really thinking about things like this (being the first Estonian winner). My goal is to become the world champion in the top class one day and this is a small part of it.” Virves said.
The championship prize for Virves includes four drives in the 2023 WRC2 series with an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 which also including pre-event testing prior to each event and he is also recieving a full tyre package from Pirelli.
