Robert Virves (born 8 July 2000) is an Estonian rally driver.[1] He won the 2022 Junior World Rally Championship.[2] He competes for Toksport WRT in the World Rally Championship.[3]

Career

2022

At the Rally Estonia, Virves set a new record with most stage wins in the Junior WRC class in a single rally event. He won 17 stages, one more than Sébastien Ogier at the 2008 Jordan Rally.[4]

After winning the Acropolis Rally Greece, he become the 2022 FIA Junior WRC Champion.[5]

2023

For winning the 2022 JWRC championship he earned six rallies with Ford Fiesta Rally2 car, supported by M-Sport. He also partnered with RedGrey Team to participate in more rallies outside World Rally Championship. His 2023 World Rally Championship season mostly was a failure. Finishing in points only in two rounds out of six with his best result in Estonia, when he finished in sixth place in WRC2 class. He ended the season with two retirements in Finland and Greece and leaving him in 28th place overall in WRC2 class.

2024

Having trouble of finding sponsors, Virves made his first start of the season in Rally Sardegna. He finished both rallies in Sardegna and Poland in eleventh place overall, but in Poland he got his first WRC2 podium finishing in third place. Showing great speed and consistency he also got to drive in Finland. In Finland he was holding third place when his bonnet came up during the stage and lost many places. After that the Estonian rally fans started a campaign to fund Virves driving in Greece.[6] Virves was fighting for the victory in Greece and finished the rally exactly the same time as Sami Pajari. Since Pajari was faster than him in the SS1, Virves was left second.[7] Regardless, he finished the rally in fifth place overall.

2025

In January 2025, it was announced that Virves signed a contract for a full season drive in 2025 WRC with Toksport WRT.[8]

Rally victories

JWRC victories

 #  Event Season Co-driver Car
1 Greece 2022 Acropolis Rally 2022 Sweden Julia Thulin Ford Fiesta Rally3

Other notable victories

 #  Event Season Co-driver Car
1 Estonia Rally Estonia Nationals 2024 2024 United Kingdom Craig Drew Škoda Fabia RS Rally2

Results

WRC summary

Season Team Starts Victories Podiums Stage wins DNF Points Final result
2020 Private 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2021 Private 5 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2022 Private 5 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2023 M-Sport 6 0 0 0 3 0 NC
2024 Private 4 0 0 0 0 7 19th
2025 Private 1 0 0 0 0 0* NC
Total 22 0 0 0 3 7

WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points
2020 Robert Virves Ford Fiesta Rally4 MON SWE MEX EST
30 		TUR ITA MNZ NC 0
2021 Autosport Team Estonia Ford Fiesta Rally4 MON FIN CRO
51 		POR
33 		ITA KEN EST
34 		BEL
22 		GRE FIN ESP
30 		MNZ NC 0
2022 Starter Energy Racing Ford Fiesta Rally3 MON SWE
34 		CRO
21 		POR
27 		ITA KEN EST
17 		FIN BEL GRE
19 		NZL ESP JPN NC 0
2023 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta Rally2 MON SWE
18 		MEX CRO POR
Ret 		ITA
17 		KEN EST
14 		FIN
Ret 		GRE
Ret 		CHL EUR JPN NC 0
2024 Robert Virves Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 MON SWE KEN CRO POR ITA
11 		POL
11 		LAT FIN
14 		GRE
5 		CHI EUR JPN 19th 7
2025 Robert Virves Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 MON SWE
32 		KEN ESP POR ITA GRE EST FIN PAR CHL EUR JPN SAU NC 0

* Season still in progress.

WRC-2 results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points
2023 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta Rally2 MON SWE
9 		MEX CRO POR
Ret 		ITA
12 		KEN EST
6 		FIN
Ret 		GRE
Ret 		CHL EUR JPN 27th 10
2024 Robert Virves Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 MON SWE KEN CRO POR ITA
6 		POL
3 		LAT FIN
8 		GRE
2 		CHI EUR JPN 10th 45
2025 Toksport WRT Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 MON SWE KEN ESP POR ITA GRE EST FIN PAR CHL EUR JPN SAU NC 0

* Season still in progress

WRC-2 Challenger

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos. Points
2023 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta Rally2 MON SWE
5 		MEX CRO POR
Ret 		ITA
9 		KEN EST
4 		FIN
Ret 		GRE
Ret 		CHL EUR JPN 15th 24

ERC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pos. Points
2022 M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally3 PRT1 PRT2 ESP1 POL
13 		LAT ITA
15 		CZE ESP2 50th 4
2023 RedGrey Team Ford Fiesta Rally2 PRT
16 		CAN POL LAT
5 		SWE ITA CZE HUN 26th 19
2024 Robert Virves Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 HUN CAN SWE EST
2 		ITA CZE GBR POL 18th 28

* Season still in progress

JWRC results/WRC-3 Junior

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 WDC Points
2020 Robert Virves Ford Fiesta Rally4 SWE EST
3 		ITA MNZ 9th 17
2021 Autosport Team Estonia Ford Fiesta Rally4 CRO
7 		POR
3 		EST
7 		BEL
3 		ESP
3 		5th 78
2022 Starter Energy Racing Ford Fiesta Rally3 SWE
6 		CRO
2 		POR
3 		EST
2 		GRE
1 		1st 130

References

  1. ^ "Robert Virves". wrc.com. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Virves crowned FIA Junior WRC champion". wrc.com. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Robert Virves naaseb Sardiinia MM-rallil Škodaga võistlusrajale". 7 May 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  4. ^ Lindsay, Alasdair (21 July 2022). "The Ogier record that was broken on Rally Estonia". DirtFish.
  5. ^ "WRC - Virves becomes first Estonian Junior WRC Champion". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Estonian fans rally for Virves' WRC2 Greece entry". Retrieved 8 February 2025.
  7. ^ "EKO Acropolis Rally Greece: Škoda crew Robert Virves/Aleks Lesk finishes with the same time as the WRC2 winners". Retrieved 8 February 2025.
  8. ^ "Finally! A brilliant opportunity for the Estonian driver". Retrieved 8 February 2025.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Virves
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