– Sami Pajari has taken a huge step closer to his maiden victory in the World Rally Championship (WRC): At Rally Estonia, the ninth round of the 2026 season, the Finn delivered a masterful driving performance without any mistakes on the fast gravel stages on Saturday as well.
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The Toyota youngster therefore takes a comfortable cushion of 25 seconds over his teammate Oliver Solberg into the final Sunday. Earlier, Pajari crowned a grueling mammoth Saturday with nine special stages (SS) with an impressively confident drive.
Already in the morning, Pajari started the day with a 14.7-second lead – a legacy of his flawless Friday performance, where he won all seven stages. He initially extended this lead to 17.6 seconds before Solberg was able to briefly halt the Finnish winning streak.
Solberg strikes back, but Pajari counters coldly
Solberg felt noticeably more comfortable behind the wheel of his GR Yaris than the day before. With best times on special stages 10 and 11, he chipped Pajari’s lead down to 14.1 seconds.
In the afternoon, however, the leader ruthlessly restored the old order: With three consecutive best times on the afternoon loop, Pajari definitively took the wind out of his pursuer’s sails. Twelve of the 16 possible stage wins so far go to the outstanding Finn.
“It’s not easy and it shouldn’t be,” Pajari summed up. “Still, we feel quite comfortable with the lead. But there are still many kilometers to go tomorrow, so it remains a tough job. But on the liaison stage, a fan held up a brilliant sign: ‘Sami, don’t listen to Marko [the co-driver], just go full throttle!’ That’s exactly what I’ll try to do.”
Solberg also showed a conciliatory attitude. His feeling in the car strongly reminded him of his drive to his impressive first WRC victory at the same place last year. The winner of the Monte Carlo Rally admitted, however, that he had been a bit too cautious at times to avoid tire damage.
“The morning definitely went better than yesterday, the feeling is coming back,” said Solberg. “What’s still missing is absolute willingness to take risks. And that’s exactly what you need to beat Sami – he’s doing a phenomenal job out there! This afternoon, our tire choice was maybe a bit too optimistic, which made it hard to constantly push at the absolute limit.”
Exciting team duel at Hyundai for third place
The battle for the remaining podium spot offered special tension: Hyundai teammates Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville engaged in a thrilling duel. Fourmaux’s 7.5-second cushion in the morning was reduced to a razor-thin 1.9 seconds before the last stage of the day.
Especially on the 15th SS, a strongly performing Neuville launched an attack: He took 4.2 seconds off Fourmaux and secured the eagerly awaited first stage win of this rally for himself and Hyundai. On the final spectator stage, neither gave an inch – they crossed the finish line simultaneously. This way, Fourmaux narrowly holds onto third overall going into Sunday.
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“A good day, even though tire wear was enormous in the afternoon,” Fourmaux summarized. “I gave it my all, the stages were a real pleasure. Tomorrow I want to attack once more on the last two big stages.”
Neuville is eager to attack: “I’m happy with the afternoon and our tire management. Adrien was damn fast. Let’s have some fun together tomorrow and see who ends up on top.”
Ogier in no man’s land, Evans launches comeback
While the track became grippier with every car, reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier lacked the decisive pace on Saturday to intervene in the duel between the two Hyundai drivers. The Frenchman ended the day in an isolated fifth place (+1:32.8 min.).
“It was definitely a somewhat long but inconspicuous day,” Ogier pragmatically concluded. “It would have been extremely difficult to gain places today anyway. We defended our position, that was the goal. Tomorrow we definitely have to step it up.”
Despite the massive handicap of having to sweep the gravel as the “road cleaner” on Friday, championship leader Elfyn Evans launched a valuable comeback on Saturday. From ninth place, the Welshman stormed up to sixth – a leap that could still be worth gold in the title fight.
Evans also benefited from the misfortune of his rivals: Josh McErlean (M-Sport Ford) had to retire from the rally early due to a defect in the exhaust manifold. Teammate Martins Sesks suffered a right front tire damage on the ninth stage but managed to hold onto seventh place going into the break.
Sesks is thus clearly ahead of a visibly frustrated Esapekka Lappi (Hyundai), who was never able to keep up with the pace of his teammates Neuville and Fourmaux. The top 10 is rounded out by M-Sport driver Jon Armstrong and the Estonian local hero Robert Virves.
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Virves takes a narrow 10.1-second lead over Finn Roope Korhonen into the final day as WRC2 leader. For Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta, Saturday turned into a pure test session. After a double tire damage ended his Friday prematurely, he restarted but suffered massively from the disadvantage of his early starting position.
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