Pajari closes on WRC Rally Finland home win after Ogier crashes out

Local hero Sami Pajari (above) will begin the final day of WRC Rally Finland with a commanding 46.4s lead after his Toyota teammate and long-time rally leader Sebastien Ogier crashed out during a dramatic Saturday of high-speed gravel action.

Ogier had reunited with former co-driver Julien Ingrassia for the FIA World Rally Championship’s fastest event as regular pacenote-caller Vincent Landais dealt with a family emergency. With Ingrassia quickly back in the groove, the nine-time and reigning WRC champ had controlled the rally since Friday morning and was 20.9s clear when his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 left the road at high speed and rolled several times on the second pass of the 11.87-mile Vastila stage.

Ogier and Ingrassia exited the car unassisted before being transported to Tampere hospital for precautionary checks.

Pajari, who’d earned a first WRC win last time out in Estonia, consequently inherited the lead of his home rally and negotiated the leg-ending 10.22-mile Leustu test without incident, completing Saturday’s eight stages 46.4s ahead of Oliver Solberg in another of Toyota’s five-car factory fleet.

“Obviously, all the afternoon was about trying to manage the speed,” said Pajari, who’s now in sight of back-to-back wins after his Estonia triumph. “There are still two long stages to do [on Sunday] and anything can still happen.”

Another Toyota driver, Elfyn Evans, ended an extraordinary day in third, 1m36.3s behind Pajari, after recovering from a roll of his own on the morning pass of Leustu.

The WRC points leader had been narrowing the gap to Ogier across the opening three stages, including a fastest time on 10.41-mile Parkkola 1, to reduce the Frenchman’s overnight advantage from 16.3s to 11.6s before leaving the road on the last stage of the morning loop, Leustu 1.

Spectators returned the damaged GR Yaris to the stage, but Evans lost more than 1m40s and fell to fifth. Toyota Gazoo Racing’s mechanics then completed extensive repairs during the between-loops service, allowing him to rejoin the fight without incurring any time penalties.

The Welshman responded by setting three top-two times in the afternoon and arrived at the final stage tied with Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux for third overall. A stage win on Leustu 2 moved him 3.8s clear of the i20 N Rally1 driver.

“I have to say a huge thanks to the mechanics for [their repair work] after my huge mistake,” Evans said. “Perhaps even more importantly, we are hoping for the best for Seb and Julien.”

After WRC points leader Elfyn Evans rolled out of second, a mighty effort by his Toyota service crew meant he not only remained in action, but climbed back to third overall. Red Bull Content Pool

Pajari had been Saturday morning’s benchmark, the 24-year-old Finn winning the first passes of 6.56-mile Paijala and Vastila, and closing to within 20.9s of Ogier before Evans’s roll promoted him to second.

With only Ogier ahead now, Pajari continued to apply pressure after service, winning Parkkola 2 and Vastila 2. Ogier briefly responded with victory on Paijala 2, but his rally ended on the following test.

Toyota deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen confirmed that the team had spoken with Ogier following the accident.

“Séb was more shocked than anything else, nothing broken,” Kankkunen told Rally.TV. “They are in the helicopter on the way to hospital to be checked, which is important after this kind of accident.”

Sebastien Ogier had looked in control and seemingly heading for a third career Rally Finland win before exiting in a high-speed roll. Red Bull Content Pool

Solberg holds a relatively secure second place after a measured afternoon, while best non-Toyota Fourmaux is fourth and remains within striking distance of Evans.

Takamoto Katsuta, the fifth and final member of Toyota’s factory quintet, is fifth overall after using much of Saturday to experiment with setup changes ahead of Super Sunday and the bonus points it offers.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville moved into sixth on the final stage, just 1.5s ahead of Josh McErlean in the best-placed of the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1s – this despite the 2024 WRC champ suffering a front-left puncture on Vastila 2.

Martins Sesks was another Saturday casualty, the M-Sport part-timer rolling his Puma early in the morning pass of Leustu. Both he and co-driver Renars Francis were unharmed and are expected to restart on Sunday in a quest for bonus points.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Jari-Matti Latvala is best of the Rally2-equipped runners and sits eighth overall in his GR Yaris Rally2. But with the Toyota team principal not chasing points on his one-off outing, the battle for the points-paying victory is a battle of the Baltics between Finland’s Teemu Suninen and Estonia’s Robert Virves.

Virves looked set to carry a comfortable advantage into the final day before encountering a tire issue aboard his Skoda Fabia RS on the day’s penultimate stage, Vastila 2. That lost him 25.6s and allowed Suninen to move 0.6s ahead with the fastest time.

Suninen added another stage victory aboard his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 on the day’s closing Leustu 2 test to increase his lead to 3.1s, but with 37.3 competitive miles remaining on Sunday, it’s far from a done deal.

It’s Finland vs. Estonia in the battle for WRC2 honors, with local ace Teemu Suninen holding a slim lead over Robert Virves. Red Bull Content Pool

Sunday’s final leg consists of two passes over the 18.65-mile Himos–Jamsa stage, with the second run forming the rally-ending, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage.

WRC Rally Finland, positions after Saturday/Leg Two, SS18
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h00m38.0s
2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +46.4s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m36.3s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m40.1s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m54.5s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m52.9s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m54.4s
8 Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hanninen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2, non-points) +6m50.8s
9 Teemu Suninen/Janni Hussi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 – WRC2 leader) +7m01.1s
10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +7m04.2s

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