Jaspar Vaher Targets Next Step Ahead of WRC Debut

Jaspar Vaher is preparing for one of the biggest moments of his career as he gets ready to make his FIA World Rally Championship debut at Rally Estonia. The young Estonian arrives at his home event after making significant progress through the Toyota Gazoo Racing young driver development programme.

Vaher became the first non-Japanese driver to be selected for Toyota's development scheme last year. The programme is designed to develop drivers into complete professional athletes with the long-term objective of reaching the highest level of international rallying and succeeding in the WRC. Its most notable graduate is Takamoto Katsuta.

Alongside Shotaro Goto and Takumi Matsushita, Vaher forms part of the latest intake of Toyota's programme. The 19-year-old says the experience has been unlike anything he encountered earlier in his career.

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"It's been really good. It's impossible to compare it to what I was used to in previous years. It's the biggest team in the world, and I'm surrounded by the best people. It's been nothing but a pleasure to be part of it."

Vaher's development has been evident throughout the season. Earlier this month he secured the first overall rally victory of his career in the Finnish Rally Championship round at Jyväskylä. Before that, he impressed with his pace in the European Rally Championship event in Sweden before retiring from the rally.

His next challenge will be considerably bigger when he makes his debut at Rally Estonia. Despite his excitement about competing on home soil, Vaher is keeping his expectations under control given the exceptionally high level of competition in the WRC.

"It's my first WRC event, so I can't set my expectations too high. Of course, I'd like to compare myself against the other drivers, but we'll see how it goes. The level of competition in the WRC is extremely high."

Although he has yet to contest a WRC round, Vaher has already competed against several future rivals in both the European Rally Championship and Finnish Rally Championship. However, he believes Rally Estonia presents a different challenge and remains focused on gaining experience while delivering the strongest performance possible on his WRC debut.