Urmo Aava

Urmo Aava (born 2 February 1979) is a former Estonian rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship between 2002 and 2009. His regular co-driver was Kuldar Sikk, who later became Ott Tänak's co-driver.

Career

Aava spent five years from 2003 in the Junior World Rally Championship driving for the successful Suzuki Junior World Rally Team. In this time his results improved, culminating in two runner-up positions in the final standings of the JWRC in 2006 and 2007. 2007 also saw sporadic outings in a privately run Mitsubishi Lancer WRC. In two of these events (Finland and New Zealand) he scored points.

For the 2008 season, Aava has negotiated a deal to compete 10 rounds in a Citroën C4 WRC car under the name 'World Rally Team Estonia' and with support from Citroën Sport Technologies. Aava showed promise in 2008 Jordan Rally, when he was running in 5th place before mechanical problems on the final day forced him to retire. Sardinia saw a steady run to 8th place and Aava's first points of the season. The next rally in Greece was even better. Two stage wins (helped by a favourable road position) demonstrated his pace and a 4th-place resulted – his best WRC result to date. Followed by a 5th place at New Zealand's rally.

WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 2002 Urmo Aava Ford Focus RS WRC MON SWE FRA ESP CYP ARG GRE KEN FINRet GER ITA NZL AUS GBR – 0 2003 Urmo Aava Suzuki Ignis S1600 MON20 SWE TURRet NZL ARG GRE19 CYP GER FIN25 AUS ITARet FRA ESP24 GBRRet – 0 2004 Urmo Aava Suzuki Ignis S1600 MON12 SWE MEX NZL CYP GRERet TUR16 ARG FIN23 GER JPN GBRRet ITARet FRA ESPRet AUS – 0 2005 Urmo Aava Suzuki Ignis S1600 MONRet SWE MEX NZL ITA19 CYP TUR GRE19 ARG FIN16 GERRet GBR JPN FRA19 ESP21 AUS – 0 2006 Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift S1600 MON SWE22 MEX ESP FRA17 ARG ITA18 GRE GER FINDSQ JPN CYP TUR16 AUS NZL GBR42 – 0 2007 Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift S1600 MON SWE NOR28 MEX POR15 ARG ITA13 GER12 ESP18 FRARet JPN15 IRE GBR 19th 3 Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 GRE14 FIN7 NZL8 2008 World Rally Team Estonia Citroën C4 WRC MON SWE18 MEX ARG JORRet ITA8 GRE4 TURRet FIN15 GER8 NZL5 ESPRet FRA7 JPN GBR 11th 13 2009 Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus RS WRC 08 IRE10 NOR8 CYP POR ARG ITA GRE POL 19th 1 Urmo Aava Honda Civic Type-R R3 FIN29 AUS ESP GBR

JWRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pos. Points 2003 Urmo Aava Suzuki Ignis S1600 MON4 TURRet GRE3 FIN4 ITARet ESP5 GBRRet 4th 20 2004 Urmo Aava Suzuki Ignis S1600 MON2 GRERet TUR5 FIN5 GBRRet ITARet ESPRet 8th 16 2005 Urmo Aava Suzuki Ignis S1600 MONRet MEX ITA2 GRE3 FIN2 GERRet FRA4 ESP4 4th 32 2006 Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift S1600 SWE3 ESP FRA2 ARG ITA3 GER FINDSQ TUR1 GBR9 2nd 31 2007 Urmo Aava Suzuki Swift S1600 NOR3 POR2 ITA1 FIN GER2 ESP3 FRARet 2nd 38