Robert Virves

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

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.

After winning the Acropolis Rally Greece, Virves become the 2022 FIA Junior WRC Champion.

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. 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. 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. He had a terrible start to the season as he had not scored a single point after Portugal. Virves finally scored his seasons first points in Sardegna and Greece, finishing seventh and eighth in WRC2 class. For next round in Estonia in his home event, Virves won the rally in front of Linnamäe and took eight stage wins. It was his first win WRC2. Virves scored another podium in Finland, finishing third. In Rally Paraguay he was holding third place, but he had to change a tire on the penultimate stage which dropped him to fifth place.

2026 Virves extended his contract with Toksport and continued driving with Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 in the WRC. He made his first start of the season at Rally Kenya where he finished fifth overall and winning the rally in WRC2 class, which was his second win in WRC2. He went on to win the WRC2 category at the Acropolis Rally and at his home event, Rally Estonia, recording third win of the season and increasing his career total to four WRC2 wins.

Rally victories WRC2 victories

WRC2 Challenger victories

JWRC victories Event Season Co-driver Car 1 2022 Acropolis Rally 2022 Julia Thulin Ford Fiesta Rally3

Other notable victories Event Season Co-driver Car 1 Rally Estonia Nationals 2024 2024 Craig Drew Škoda Fabia RS Rally2

Results WRC summary SeasonTeamStartsVictoriesPodiumsStage winsDNFPointsFinal 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/Toksport 9 0 0 0 2 0 NC 2026 Toksport 7 0 0 1 0 15* 14th*Total 37 0 0 1 5 22

WRC results Season still in progress.

WRC-2 results Season still in progress.

WRC-2 Challenger

ERC results

JWRC results/WRC-3 Junior