RALLY ESTONIA 2026: PAJARI LEADS TOYOTA ONE-TWO AFTER DOMINANT OPENING DAY

SAMI PAJARI WINS EVERY FRIDAY STAGE AS TOYOTA GAZOO RACING TAKES CONTROL IN ESTONIA

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team made a commanding start to Rally Estonia 2026 as Sami Pajari led a Toyota one-two after winning every special stage on Friday.

The Finnish driver delivered a flawless performance across the opening seven stages of the ninth round of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship. After sharing the fastest time in the morning shakedown with team-mate Elfyn Evans, Pajari carried that speed into the rally, winning all three stages on the first loop before extending his advantage during the afternoon.

https://youtu.be/Dbh42F-pUSE

Driving the GR Yaris Rally1, Pajari finished the opening leg with a 14.7-second lead over Oliver Solberg, who consistently remained among the fastest drivers throughout the day. The Swedish driver completed a strong Toyota one-two by ending Friday 1.8 seconds ahead of Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux.

Sebastien Ogier returned to Rally Estonia for the first time in five years and completed a steady opening day to hold fifth overall, while championship leader Elfyn Evans faced the disadvantage of opening the road on the dry and loose gravel stages, ending the day in ninth position.

Takamoto Katsuta's day ended in disappointment after tyre damage on the final forest stage left him without enough usable spare tyres to continue. Toyota will prepare his GR Yaris Rally1 to restart on Saturday under the rally regulations.

In WRC2, Toyota drivers also featured prominently. Teemu Suninen and Roope Korhonen ended Friday second and third in class, both within five seconds of the category lead. Home driver Jaspar Vaher impressed on his WRC2 debut by climbing to fourth in class and claiming his first stage victory on SS3. Fellow Toyota Challenge Program drivers Yuki Yamamoto, Takumi Matsushita and Shotaro Goto also continued gaining valuable experience throughout the opening day.

KEY POINTS

● Sami Pajari won all seven stages on Friday at Rally Estonia.

● Toyota ended the opening day with a one-two led by Pajari and Oliver Solberg.

● Pajari finished Friday with a 14.7-second advantage.

● Oliver Solberg completed the day in second overall.

● Adrien Fourmaux was the highest-placed Hyundai driver in third.

● Sebastien Ogier ended the opening leg in fifth overall.

● Elfyn Evans finished ninth after sweeping the loose gravel roads.

● Takamoto Katsuta retired after tyre damage on the final forest stage.

● Toyota will restart Katsuta on Saturday.

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

● Jaspar Vaher claimed his first WRC2 stage win on his category debut.

● Yuki Yamamoto, Takumi Matsushita and Shotaro Goto continue their WRC2 campaigns.

Quotes:

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)

“Sami has driven very well today. To be able to set the fastest time on every stage is quite surprising and impressive. Already in shakedown he was very happy with the feeling in the car and didn’t need to change anything. He’s been smiling and relaxed and enjoying himself, and hopefully for him it can continue like this. Oliver and Seb both had solid days and I’m sure they can get stronger tomorrow, and Elfyn too with a slightly better road position. Taka was unfortunate today but he just needs to put that behind him and look forward.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)

“It’s been a tough start to the rally for us opening the road today with some very loose conditions. We tried to do all that we can, and it didn’t feel so bad behind the wheel. We just weren’t able to put competitive times on the board, and it could be a bit disheartening to see the guys coming faster behind. Thankfully this afternoon with the ruts forming the time loss wasn’t so bad, and tomorrow should at least be a bit better with a couple of cars in front of us.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)

“I think it’s been a decent day for us. People know that I will never say I’m happy being in fifth place, but I knew coming here it would be challenging and I think we did a decent job from third on the road after five years not competing here. Sami has been flying today, so well done to him: winning all of the stages is something special. On our side there’s still some work to do to try and improve a bit, work on the car and myself to hopefully be closer to that pace tomorrow and catch some more positions.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)

“Second place is a pretty good position but I can’t be completely satisfied with the day. This morning it was all pretty close, but the afternoon was a bit more difficult in terms of the times compared to Sami, who has done a great job today. I was struggling a bit with the feeling and to find that sweet spot to be able to push. But we’re not far away and we will keep trying to improve some small things. Tomorrow will be a long day and it will be important to manage the tyres when we’re driving the first and second pass on the same set.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)

“Today didn’t go as expected. It was quite a difficult start already in the morning. We went a bit too much on the soft side with the car setup and it wasn’t working so well in the super high speed sections. We managed it as well as we could and without losing too much time. Unfortunately, we got damage to two tyres during the second loop and couldn’t continue. It’s very disappointing, but I will just keep trying to do my best over the rest of the rally.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)

“I can be very happy at the end of the day. To take a clean sweep of stage wins and be in the lead is really good, and more importantly the feeling behind the wheel has been really great. The driving has just been flowing quite naturally. Of course, we are pushing but I don’t feel like I’m taking big risk and it feels under control. The morning was super tight with our rivals but in the afternoon we managed to make a bit more of a gap. Still, it’s only Friday. There’s two long days still to go, so no chance to relax yet, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow and will just try to keep enjoying it.”

End of day one (Friday):

1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 49m43.5s

2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +14.7s

3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +16.5s

4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +24.0s

5 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +33.3s

6 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +44.7s

7 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +46.5s

8 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +46.6s

9 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +49.8s

10 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m04.3s

41 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +11m32.5s