RALLY ESTONIA 2026: PAJARI EXTENDS LEAD AS TOYOTA MAINTAINS DOMINANT ONE-TWO

SAMI PAJARI MOVES CLOSER TO MAIDEN WRC VICTORY AFTER COMMANDING SATURDAY IN ESTONIA

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team strengthened its grip on Rally Estonia 2026 as Sami Pajari extended his overall lead during Saturday's demanding leg to move within one day of a maiden FIA World Rally Championship victory.

After dominating Friday by winning every special stage, Pajari continued his impressive pace across the rally's longest day, which featured nine stages and 149.6 competitive kilometres. The Finn opened Saturday with fastest times on the first passes of Peipsiaare and Mustvee before team-mate Oliver Solberg ended his winning streak by taking victory on the second pass of both stages.

The afternoon belonged to Pajari once again. Driving the GR Yaris Rally1, he claimed three consecutive stage wins to increase his advantage to 25 seconds over Solberg heading into Sunday's final stages.

Solberg's pace also helped Toyota strengthen its position, with the Swedish driver building a margin of more than 25 seconds over Hyundai drivers Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville, who continue their own battle for the final podium place.

Sebastien Ogier remained fifth overall after another consistent performance, while championship leader Elfyn Evans climbed to sixth after no longer having the disadvantage of sweeping the loose gravel roads. Evans gained three positions during the opening two stages of the day.

Takamoto Katsuta restarted after Friday's retirement caused by tyre damage and used Saturday to evaluate car setup ahead of the Rally Estonia finish and the upcoming Rally Finland.

Toyota also remained competitive in WRC2, where Roope Korhonen and Teemu Suninen continued their close battle for second and third in class, both sitting just over 10 seconds behind the category leader. Home driver Jaspar Vaher retired after going off the road from fourth place on SS8, while Yuki Yamamoto also exited the rally following a crash on SS15. Japanese rookies Takumi Matsushita and Shotaro Goto continued gaining valuable WRC2 experience.

KEY POINTS

● Sami Pajari extended his Rally Estonia lead to 25 seconds.

● Toyota continues to hold a dominant one-two with Oliver Solberg in second.

● Saturday featured nine special stages covering 149.6 competitive kilometres.

● Pajari claimed five stage wins during Saturday's action.

● Oliver Solberg won two stages and strengthened his hold on second overall.

● Solberg leads Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux by more than 25 seconds.

● Sebastien Ogier remains fifth overall.

● Championship leader Elfyn Evans climbed to sixth after improved road conditions.

● Takamoto Katsuta restarted to continue testing ahead of Rally Finland.

● Roope Korhonen and Teemu Suninen remain second and third in WRC2.

● Jaspar Vaher retired after an off-road incident on SS8.

● Yuki Yamamoto crashed out on SS15 while Takumi Matsushita and Shotaro Goto continue their WRC2

Quotes:

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)

“This was another really impressive day from Sami. He looks really comfortable with the car and the speed has been coming very naturally, without him having to push too hard or take massive risks. Oliver has also been driving really well, but even when he set a couple of fastest times this morning, Sami was able to respond quite easily and go even quicker this afternoon. There’s still two quite long stages to go but I won’t be telling him to change his approach. With 10 points available and the speed that he has, I see no reason to back off.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)

“We had a good start to the day. With a slightly better road position than yesterday, we had a good feeling behind the wheel and were able to gain back some positions, which was the main target. We then used the afternoon to experiment with a few different setups, which maybe didn’t go in the direction that we had hoped, but at least we have a solid base to fall back on for tomorrow. Even though there’s only one stage run twice, there’s a lot of points on offer and we’ll have to try to be on our best.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)

“We were able to have a good rhythm and good fun in the car again today. Unfortunately the road was evolving and getting faster with every car, so it was difficult to fight with the guys ahead of us on the leaderboard. I always prefer to have a fight and to be fifth overall is not what we hoped for, but we’re still on for some important points and tomorrow there are quite a few more to catch. The weather is looking uncertain, and some rain could change things and reduce this cleaning effect, so we just have to keep trying our best until the end.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)

“I had a much better feeling this morning; something similar to what we had here last year in terms of the feeling with the car and the speed. Initially I was still lacking a bit of commitment, but then we made another step for the second pass, the balance felt good, and I could push and set some fastest times. This afternoon we were maybe a bit optimistic going with a full set of soft tyres and it didn’t pay off. I didn’t want to force it and just tried to keep driving my own race. Sami has done an incredible performance so hats off to him. There’s still a long day tomorrow which will be very important for the points, and we’ll try to take as many as we can.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)

“It was difficult today to be the first car on the road; it’s been so dry so far this weekend and the cleaning effect is really big. We were just focused on trying to find some positive things for the future and for the next rally in Finland, trying a lot of different things with the car setup in every single stage. Some things were positive, some things not so much, but at least we could gather that information. There’s still one more day to go and it probably won’t be easy but I will keep trying my best, also for all the fans here in Estonia who have been showing such great support for me.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)

“It’s been another really good day. Again I had a really great feeling with the car and we could start with two stage wins this morning. Then Oliver was having really good pace to bring the gap back down a bit. So we needed to try and step it up for the afternoon and we managed to do that, adding another 10 seconds to our lead. It wasn’t easy with some different stage conditions and difficult tyre choices, but I’m super happy and now we just need to bring it home tomorrow. We don’t know exactly what the weather will be like – the forecast suggests it could be tricky – but I’m looking forward to it.”

End of day one (Friday):

1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h08m34.0s

2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +25.0s

3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +52.1s

4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +54.0s

5 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m32.8s

6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m02.9s

7 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m16.3s

8 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m42.0s

9 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m03.2s

10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7m07.2s

26 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +13m15.9s