Based in Otepää in the south of the country with the ceremonial start and finish and street stage in Tartu, Estonia’s second largest city, auto24 Rally Estonia proved a huge success with thousands of fans flocking to the picturesque stages to follow the thrilling action.

The Prime Minister of Estonia, Taavi Rõivas, was among them, taking his family to three stages on Friday when he was accompanied by François Ribeiro, Motorsport Director of ERC Promoter Eurosport Events, and ERC Co-ordinator Jean-Baptiste Ley.

A number of FIA officials were also in attendance to support the work of the Rally Estonia organisers and to help the smooth running of the gravel event in a country relatively new to hosting international motorsport competitions.

They included Radovan Novak, appointed by the FIA as the Chairman of the Stewards of the Meeting, FIA Steward Pedro Melvil, FIA Observer Jordi Parro, FIA Technical Delegate Karl-Heinz Goldstein and FIA Sporting Delegate Arnaud Crépin. Ari Vatanen, the President of the Estonian Automobile Union was also present.

Afterwards, Ott Tänak, Estonia’s leading international rally driver and event winner in a Ford Fiesta R5, said: “The organisers have done a perfect job although it’s not so easy to do a big event like this in a small place like Estonia. But they made a big event with lots of spectators. It was a really good event and I really enjoyed it. It was also really good preparation for Rally Finland, my next WRC event.”

Tänak’s co-driver, Raigo Mölder, added: “The organisation from my point of view was really good. And for the safety things there were no stupid places where spectators can be.

Former WRC driver Urmo Aava founded Rally Estonia in 2010 and has been the driving force behind the event ever since.

“The rally was 110 per cent a success using our organisation and our knowledge,” said Aava. “Our main aim was to promote rally sport in Estonia and now with the FIA European Rally Championship we have grown into the biggest sporting event. Also, all the young Estonian drivers were doing the rally and I was really proud that they could compete against the leader of the ERC, Esapekka Lappi.”

Aava continued: “With innovations like the Tartu City stage we were able to bring the rally to more people and the coverage on Eurosport brought the event to every Estonian’s heart. The balance between the nature, architecture and the sport was so well done. But we also have to be very grateful to the 1000 volunteers who were supporting us.”

Aava is now working on securing Estonia’s long-term future in the ERC.