TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team is ready to increase the pace when Rally Estonia (July 17-19) hosts round nine of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship and the first of two back-to-back events on fast gravel roads in the north of Europe.

Following last month's rough and rocky Acropolis Rally Greece, drivers can now look forward to testing their skills on smoother and quicker roads, with Rally Estonia to be followed just two weeks later by Rally Finland: the fastest round of the WRC and a home rally for TGR-WRT.

All five TGR-WRT drivers, who currently fill the top five places in the championship, will compete in Estonia. Elfyn Evans is the current championship leader with an advantage of 11 points over Takamoto Katsuta, who is set to reach the milestone of 100 WRC events in Estonia.

Reigning champion Sebastien Ogier climbed to third in the standings, 37 points from the lead, with victory in Greece and returns to compete on Estonian roads for the first time since 2021.

The team's youngest drivers, Finland's Sami Pajari and Sweden's Oliver Solberg, both feel at home on fast gravel stages. Solberg scored a sensational victory in Estonia one year ago on his debut in the GR YARIS Rally1 car.

More up-and-coming talent will be on display in the WRC support categories in Estonia, where seven cars will compete as part of the TGR WRC Challenge Program.

WRC2 regular Yuki Yamamoto - on strong form after a first podium at Rally Japan and Power Stage win in Greece - will be joined by three drivers making their debuts in the category after building experience on a variety of European rallies so far this year aboard GR Yaris Rally2 cars: Japanese prospects Shotaro Goto and Takumi Matsushita and Estonian talent Jaspar Vaher, who takes on his home rally fresh from outright victory in the recent Finnish championship round in Jyväskylä.

Two more Japanese drivers, Rio Ogata and Kanta Yanaguida, make their debuts in the WRC3 category for Rally3 cars, where Japanese co-driver Tomiya Maekawa also lines up alongside Jarkko Nikara.

A total of 14 GR Yaris Rally2 drivers feature on the entry list, including the new WRC2 championship leader Roope Korhonen and fellow Finn Teemu Suninen, who won on his last start in Portugal. They are joined by Gus Greensmith, Bernhard ten Brinke, Tuukka Kauppinen and Johannes Keferböck plus four more Estonian drivers: Egon Kaur, Karl Martin Volver, Joosep Ralf Nõgene and Urmo Aava.

Rally Estonia is known for its wide and flowing roads that feature crests and large jumps, but the route also includes narrow and technical sections where the soft and sandy surface can become heavily rutted by the second pass of each stage. The rally is based in the country's second largest city, Tartu - around two hours south-east of the capital Tallinn - and runs to a more compact format this year which packs 301.8 competitive kilometres into just over 48 hours.

After shakedown on Friday morning, the rally begins in the afternoon with a trio of gravel stages south of Tartu run twice either side of a tyre-fitting zone in Tehvandi, before a street stage in Elvi rounds out the day. Saturday features two stages to the north run twice prior to mid-day service in Tartu and another two stages to the south run twice in the afternoon, while a super special stage adjacent to the service park ends the day. Two passes of the Kääriku stage, the longest of the rally at 24.39km, round out the rally on Sunday.

Quotes:

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)

"As a team we always look forward to this part of the season and these very fast rallies in Estonia and Finland. Of course, Finland is our home rally, but Estonia is also a place where we have a good history and a good record. The Acropolis Rally was all about managing the tyres, but Estonia should be more of a flat-out fight. All of our drivers enjoy driving on fast roads and can be strong there; Oliver took an amazing win there last year, and Taka and Sami are both on very good form. For Elfyn, it should be easier to compete from first on the road, while Seb hasn't driven this event for many years, but he will be motivated after his win in Greece."

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)

"Greece was a challenging event for us but we can look forward to something completely different on much faster roads in Estonia and Finland. It's important to find a good feeling and prepare the car as well as possible for these events, and it was helpful to drive a national rally in Estonia last week to get used to the highest speeds once again. If it's very dry in Estonia then there can still be some cleaning for us to do, but we just need to focus on doing our best whatever conditions we face."

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)

"To win in Greece was very important for us. Moving from there to Estonia will be a big contrast, and especially for me as I haven't driven this rally for five years. I'm looking forward to being back, though. It's one of the most spectacular rallies of the season, and a well-organised event with a great atmosphere. I enjoyed my test last week, getting back the feeling for high speed, and hopefully we can be competitive. I'm sure that it will not be easy, but I always enjoy a challenge like this and will give it my best shot."

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)

"I'm really looking forward to going back to Rally Estonia. It's a very special place to me after we took our first win there last year. It's a really cool rally that I've always enjoyed: with the high speeds, massive jumps and excited rally fans, it's a lot of fun. We haven't had the easiest run of rallies recently, but now I'm going back to a rally where I have experience with this car, and I just want to try my best and see what we can do."

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)

"After a good rally for us in Greece, I've got a good feeling to move onto very high-speed stages in Estonia and Finland, which are some of my favourite rallies. You have to be very committed in Estonia, especially on the second pass when the road gets rutted, but the margins are also very small at those speeds. All of my team-mates can also be very strong in these rallies, but I will try my best to achieve good results and take as many points as possible."

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)

"I'm really looking forward to these next two rallies in Estonia and Finland: they are my favourite ones on the calendar. I'm pretty happy with how we finished the last rally in Greece after a difficult start, we're still in a good position in the championship, and at the same time our starting position should not be too bad for the next rallies and should allow us to be in the fight, so let's see what we can do."

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

"I'm really happy to be going back onto fast gravel roads again. I had a good feeling at Rally Estonia last year, and I've made a lot of progress since then with car handling and rally management. I also already drove a Finnish championship rally recently in preparation, so I'm confident I'm ready. I'm aiming high but there will again be many good drivers in WRC2; I'm excited to fight against them and try my best."