Two years to the month since he made his debut aboard a GR YARIS Rally1 car during his run to the WRC2 title in 2024, the breakthrough win for Pajari caps an excellent run of form so far this season that had already featured five podiums in the previous eight rallies.

The result means all five of the team’s current Rally1 drivers have tasted victory in 2026, with Pajari joining fellow TGR-WRT drivers Kalle Rovanperä (2021) and Oliver Solberg (2025) in achieving his maiden WRC win in Estonia.

The 24-year-old from neighbouring Finland looked at home on the event’s fast gravel roads from the very start with a calm and composed yet stunningly quick drive. He won all seven stages on Friday, and when nearest rival Solberg halted that streak on Saturday morning, Pajari responded to extend his lead to 25 seconds before the final day. Rain threatened to mix things up on the final day but Pajari was unfazed and ultimately secured victory by 19.5s.

Pajari’s fellow 24-year-old and successor as WRC2 champion Solberg also drove a strong and smart rally to return to the podium alongside co-driver Elliott Edmondson, and scored maximum bonus points from the final day by topping the Super Sunday and Power Stage classifications.

Sébastien Ogier finished fifth overall on his first Rally Estonia start since 2021, securing valuable championship points together with co-driver Vincent Landais.

As championship leader, Elfyn Evans faced a tough start to the rally running first on the road in particularly dry and loose conditions and sweeping a cleaner line for his rivals to follow. He and co-driver Scott Martin used a slightly better position on Saturday to move up from ninth to sixth, and came second on Super Sunday and third in the Power Stage to increase their championship lead to 25 points.

Takamoto Katsuta had been running sixth on Friday from second on the road until he had to stop due to tyre damage. Restarting on Saturday, he and Aaron Johnston had to open the road for the rest of the weekend but scored one point in the Power Stage and remain second in the championship. Pajari is up to third with Ogier fourth and Solberg fifth; the five TGR-WRT drivers covered by 47 points with five rallies remaining.

Even with Pajari scoring under the separate TGR-WRT2 banner, TGR-WRT increases its manufacturers’ championship lead to 156 points.

Two GR Yaris Rally2 crews finished on the podium in a closely fought WRC2 battle, with Teemu Suninen and Janni Hussi finishing second and Roope Korhonen and Anssi Viinikka third – both less than 10s from the winner.

Quotes:

Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman)

“Congratulations Sami and Marko on your first WRC victory! After retiring at the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo, I heard that you told the team: ‘I want to practice more, even if it’s in a Rally2 car.’ I’m really happy that your determination, positive attitude, and willingness to take action have finally been rewarded with a win.

Seeing you and Oliver – both the same age – standing together on the top two steps of the podium was also a wonderful sight that gave us a glimpse of the future. It’s always satisfying to see experienced drivers win, but this was a different kind of excitement altogether. And with Sami’s victory this weekend, all five of our drivers have now taken wins this season.

At TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team, we do not make cars with the goal of helping just one driver win. Our philosophy is to make a car that gives every driver on the team an equal opportunity to fight for victory. The success achieved by all of our drivers has proven the value of both our car development and our team-building approach. To everyone in the team, let’s keep pushing forward and continue building even better cars together!

P.S.

Thanks to all of you, my recovery after surgery is progressing well. The other day, I was allowed to conduct a test run of my own body. I was relieved to find that I could still drive a car properly. That said, I’m told I should probably take it a little easier for a while longer. So that I can get back behind the wheel of the cars you all have worked so hard to create, I’ll continue my own maintenance program carefully and patiently for a little while longer.”

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)

“I’m very proud of this result and this first victory for Sami and Marko. Already after shakedown on Friday morning, Sami told me he was happy with the car and that the team didn’t need to touch it, and we didn’t, even though our team is always working as hard as we can to improve and make our drivers as comfortable and competitive as we can. He was very calm from start to finish and did a perfect job; it was very impressive. Now, all of our drivers have won a rally or two this year and that shows that we are doing something right. They are all fighting for the championship and they can all win at Rally Finland, too.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)

“We faced a tough start to the weekend with the stages being so dry and the cleaning effect so clear. In the end, I think we clawed back as many positions as we could and that sixth was realistically the most that was possible. Then, the final day was quite OK for us. I think the rain helped a bit to even things out and we had a pretty good run through both stages. So we came away with some decent points and now we’ll look forward to Rally Finland.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)

“It’s been a lot of fun to be back here in Estonia this weekend driving these amazing roads and this fantastic event; it was definitely the right decision. Congratulations to Sami and Marko on their first win: they were clearly the fastest this weekend, so enjoy it! On my side I was not far from the target I set myself. After five years away from these high commitment roads, I was just missing a little bit, and maybe a few tenths on this final day. Still we scored decent points for the championship and we will go to Rally Finland with a higher target.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)

“This has been a very good weekend. It was very important for me to have a clean weekend and find a good rhythm and get back the feeling and the confidence. Thank you to the team who have supported through a tough time, and I’m very happy to bring back this great result and to be back on the podium. Sami and Marko have done an amazing job with incredible speed and really deserve this result. Today I was able to turn it up just a few percent and take the maximum points from Sunday, so I’m very happy.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)

“This weekend did not go the way that we had hoped. We knew that Friday could be difficult with our road position but our pace was not bad and I think we were doing our job quite well until we had to stop, and this really affected the rest of our rally, because it was hard to do much from first on the road. It’s very frustrating but nothing is over, and we keep going and keep pushing. We tested some different things with the car for Rally Finland and I hope we have a good rally there.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)

“It’s simply an amazing feeling. ‘Arigato gozaimasu’ to Morizo-san and everyone at TGR-WRT for your support and for trusting in me. Thanks to all my supporters, family and friends who stood behind me even when we had tricky times. I also want to thank myself for not giving up and for continuing to push. We’ve had a good first part of the season and after being so many times on the podium, there was no doubt this result was coming, but it’s never easy at this level. This is one of my favourite rallies together with Finland, and I was just enjoying the driving and everything felt natural. Let’s now enjoy the moment before our home event at Rally Finland.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY ESTONIA

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 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)      +1m32.9s

6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)                   +2m01.0s

7 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1)                                  +2m35.3s

8 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)                           +3m02.3s

9 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1)                                    +3m28.0s

10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2)                                +8m33.1s ...

21 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +13m23.6s ...

(Results as of 14:15 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 9:

1 Elfyn Evans              177 points

2 Takamoto Katsuta  152

3 Sami Pajari              144

4 Sébastien Ogier      139

5 Oliver Solberg         130

6 Thierry Neuville          111

7 Adrien Fourmaux        111

8 Esapekka Lappi            25

9 Hayden Paddon            21

10 Yohan Rossel             20 ...

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 9:

1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 464 points

2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team              308

3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2                    157

4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team                        116

What's next?

Rally Finland (July 30-August 2) is the fastest rally on the WRC calendar, run over smooth gravel roads featuring numerous jumps and crests. It’s also a home rally for TGR-WRT, which has its headquarters close to the service park in Jyväskylä.