RALLY ESTONIA, RECONNAISSANCE ANNOUNCES A RACE WITH ERRATIC WEATHER AND ROAD CONDITIONS
Full of soft tyres, i.e. the maximum possible 28, and the hunt for grip, which is confirmed as the main challenge for all crews. These were the premises with which Rally Estonia got underway today, with the Kastre shakedown going to Kalle Rovanpera, with a time of 1.58.8.
The Pirelli engineers' analysis after reconnaissance basically reiterated, data in hand, the predictions made on the eve of the race, namely the speed of most of the road sections and the slipperiness of the surfaces, which make careful management of the tyres and the choice of spare number crucial.
To summarise, the race is set to take place in weather and road conditions that are never stable, with gravel ranging from dry to very wet. The soft tyre will have the hard task of generating grip consistently and progressively in the 3 types of surface that will be found during the rally.
THE MAIN DATA AT A GLANCE
Ambient temperatures: fairly small fluctuations, linked to the time of the start of practice, with a minimum of 17 degrees and a maximum of 22
Ground temperatures: slightly wider range of ground temperatures, 16-24 degrees, with the maximum expected for Sunday's Karaski 2 (SS 20)
Surface conditions: the low grip typical of Estonian track surfaces is complicated by the presence of particularly high humidity, especially on Friday, with peaks of 75% and 81%; no wet surfaces are expected at the moment
Type of surface: ranging from soft gravel to compact gravel, with prevalence of the former, to which sandy sections are added; there are also short sections of soft asphalt
Surface abrasiveness: generally poor; the surface is predominantly soft to the detriment of grip
Grip level: generally medium to medium-low
Tyre damage risk: in Pirelli engineers' classification, which adopts a scale of 1 to 5, Rally Estonia gets a rating of 2.5, with the highest risk peaks of 3 at Peipsiääre, Raanitsa and Otepää.
Tyre stress and wear: from this point of view, the most demanding tests are Peipsiääre and Otepää, which show very high levels of both consumption and tyre fatigue; in the other tests, while consumption is average (2.5/5), stress is in the medium-high range (3/5)
Most demanding section: stage 3, i.e. the second stages on Friday afternoon
Most demanding special stages: the rating of most stages is medium-high (3/5) due to a combination of factors, ranging from the twistiness and speed of the routes to the type of surface
Below the day-by-day analysis tables in detail
PIRELLI TYRES IN ESTONIA
Scorpion KX WRC, which in the soft SA compound version are the optimum solution for a race on slippery surfaces, as they are designed to provide grip even in the most difficult conditions on wet surfaces in a balanced way to ensure performance and endurance. The hard HA compound version is the option and is suitable for the most abrasive surfaces and the longest trials.
As for the other categories, in Estonia Rally2 will have Scorpion K6B (soft) and K4B (hard) tyres available, while Rally3 will have K6A (soft) and K4A (hard). For these cars, the allocations are 22 and 8 tyres for the prime and option respectively, to which must be added a set for the shakedown.