It might have a population smaller than Manchester and boast wife-carrying as a national sport, but Estonia is rapidly making a name for itself in rallying. Rally Estonia, the national showpiece, ended up with perhaps the strongest entry list outside the World Rally Championship for its 2019 edition, with all of the WRC factory teams fielding strong line-ups and current cars.

Estonia has begun a three-year plan to join the WRC from 2022, and made its intentions clear iby attracting entries from  Toyota, Citroën, M-Sport Ford and Hyundai.

The Baltic country has been a growing market for rallying in recent years, the event having first run in 2010, and has been boosted by the emergence of Ott Tänak. The local star entered his home rally, taking victory by more than a minute aboard his Toyota Yaris WRC. Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen was runner-up, ahead of Citroën’s Esapekka Lappi and M-Sport’s Elfyn Evans, with Irishman Craig Breen finishing fifth on his first outing with new employer Hyundai. A total of seven current-generation factory WRC cars entered, plus Oliver Solberg in the new Volkswagen Polo GTi R5.

Rally Estonia already has some backing from the WRC, which endorses it as a promotional event, meaning it can run as a candidate rally in any year with a view to becoming a fully-fledged world championship round the following season. Many WRC teams use the event as a warm-up ahead of Rally Finland, due to the two countries sharing similar road surfaces and designs. It also benefits from an annual government grant for its organisation, and already has custom-built road sections with designated spectator areas.