Pajari dominates Rally Estonia to land first WRC win

Sami Pajari took his first FIA World Rally Championship victory after three days of dominance on the fast gravel roads of Rally Estonia.

The 24-year-old Finn (above) led from start to finish in his factory Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, winning 12 of the 18 high-speed, high-commitment stages to head home his second-placed teammate, Oliver Solberg, by 19.5s.

Pajari becomes the 83rd different winner in WRC history, and the third driver after Kalle Rovanpera in 2021 and Solberg in 2025 to earn their breakthrough win in Estonia.

The result is the 199th WRC victory for Finnish drivers, and it’s Finland hosting the next round of the championship, July 30-Aug. 2. On similar terrain to the fast, flowing Estonian roads that he mastered this weekend, Pajari looks like the driver to beat for a home win and a 200th win for the WRC’s “Flying Finns.”

“It’s something so amazing, maybe I didn’t really realize what I’ve just done,” said Pajari, the 17th different Finn to win a WRC event. “Thank you to everybody working at Toyota Gazoo Racing – I’m super happy for you and super grateful, so thanks for all the support and trusting in me. Thanks to everyone who stood behind my back when there were some tricky times.

“And I thank myself for not giving up and going for it once again. Now I’ve done it, it feels good.”

Sami Pajari’s breakthrough win in Estonia made it 199 wins for “Flying Finns” in the WRC. Could he add the 200th next time out, in Finland?

Pajari and co-driver Marko Salminen began the two-stage final leg leading Solberg by 25.0s. Although Solberg went quicker on the first run through the 15.16-mile Kaariku test, he did so by a scant 0.4s to leave Pajari firmly in control starting the repeat run, which doubled as the bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage. Solberg was quickest again to top the Super Sunday rankings, while Pajari cruised to the sixth-quickest time to secure victory and third place among the Super Sunday contenders.

With nine of 14 rounds completed, Pajari’s win on the Tartu-based event tightens up the WRC drivers’ championship battle. He added 28 points to his previous total of 116 to move into third in the provisional standings, 33 points behind teammate and points leader Elfyn Evans, who finished sixth overall in Estonia.

Second place for Solberg was his third podium of the season and ended a frustrating run of recent results that have blighted his championship challenge since the Swede’s win on the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally. His Wolf Power Stage victory and Super Sunday success means he leaves Estonia with 27 points, albeit still 47 behind leader Evans.

“It’s been a very good weekend for sure, so I need to be happy,” said Solberg. “It’s been a couple of hard rallies. I didn’t have the full confidence to push on the proper 100 percent limit like Sami had, and he deserves the win. But, yes, very happy with my weekend – good points and a good stepping stone for the upcoming events.”

Adrien Fourmaux began leg three in third place, just 1.9s ahead of his Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville. The 2024 WRC champ had closed in on Fourmaux after he went quicker than the Frenchman five times on Saturday’s stages following tweaks to his i20 N Rally1’s transmission settings.

But when Neuville posted a time 7.9s slower than Fourmaux on Sunday’s opener, the 9.8s gap between the pair was too great for the Belgian to try to overcome on the Wolf Power Stage. Afterward, Neuville revealed that he was almost late starting the opening run due to work required to his car’s intercom system.

Thierry Neuville had closed in on Hyundai teammate Adrien Fourmaux during Saturday’s leg, but just failed to pass him for the final podium spot. Red Bull Content Pool

On his first appearance in Estonia since 2021, nine-time and reigning WRC champ Sebastien Ogier finished fifth, one place ahead of Evans. While opening the road on day one, hence sweeping away the loose gravel for the cars behind, had cost Evans a strong result, he actually increased his championship lead and now has a 25-point buffer over another member of Toyota’s factory fleet, Takamoto Katsuta.

The Japanese driver had dropped out of contention with tire damage on Friday’s penultimate stage and was further hampered by running first through Saturday and taking over the frustrating role of road sweeper.

WRC part-timer Martins Sesks was the leading M-Sport Ford finisher in seventh, with Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi eighth on his first WRC start since Safari Rally Kenya in March.

Sesks could have finished higher up the order had it not been for an off in Friday’s Shakedown that resulted in some frantic pre-start repairs to his Puma Rally1 and a 20-second time penalty. The Latvian was also delayed by a damaged front-right tire on Saturday morning.

M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong could have challenged Lappi for eighth had it not been for a heavy landing on the very first stage of the rally leading to front-left tire damage. The Irishman finished 25.7s adrift of the Finn.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, local hero Robert Robert Virves completed a near-faultless weekend in his Toksport-run Skoda Fabia RS with a 7.6s victory on his home gravel. He also received a 25,000 euro ($29,000) prize from WRC Promoter for finishing the event as the top Estonian driver.

In a battle of the Finnish GR Yaris Rally2 drivers, Teemu Suninen beat Roope Korhonen to the runner-up spot by just 1.2s after a full-send Wolf Power Stage showdown.

Robert Virves gave the local fans what they wanted with a WRC2 class win in his Toksport Skoda Fabia RS. McKlein/Getty Images

High-speed gravel battle is resumed July 30-Aug. 2, when the WRC heads north across the Baltic Sea for one of the championship’s most iconic and intense events, Rally Finland, a.k.a. “The Gravel Grand Prix.”

WRC Rally Estonia, final positions after Sunday/Leg Three, SS18
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h31m16.5s
2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +19.5s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +53.8s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +59.7s
5 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m32.9s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m01.0s
7 Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m35.3s
8 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Malkonen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m02.3s
9 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m28.0s
10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 winner) +8m33.1s 

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 9 of 14 rounds
1 Evans 177 points
2 Takamoto Katsuta 152
3 Pajari 144
4 Ogier 139
5 Solberg 130
6 Neuville 111   

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 9 of 14 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 464 points   
2 Hyundai Word Rally Team 308 
3 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 157
4  M-Sport Ford 116 

• Catch WRC action from all rounds of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship on RACER Network and the RACER+ App. Tune in on Monday, July 20 at 9.00pm ET for full highlights from Rally Estonia.  
• RACER Network is also your home for the WRC Magazine show, with new episodes landing on the Thursday before every WRC event.   
• Join R92, RACER’s ultimate all-access membership, for just $99 for one year and get 24/7 motorsports streaming on the RACER+ app, six print and digital issues of RACER magazine, unlimited digital access to the RACER archive, and exclusive member perks. CLICK HERE and join now for the ultimate motorsports fan experience.