Sami Pajari inches closer to maiden win in WRC Rally Estonia

Sami Pajari inches closer to maiden win in WRC Rally Estonia

19th July 2026 0 By Kamron Kent

Toyota’s Sami Pajari remains the leader of the World Rally Championship’s Rally Estonia, with his teammate, Oliver Solberg, falling behind.

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool

Pajari has inched closer to his maiden WRC victory as the Finnish driver edged out his advantage out front to over 25 seconds in hand over Solberg.

The Finn had managed to secure all of the stage wins on Friday, and his form looked as though he would not slow down, collecting two more stage wins in the opening two stages.

However, his closest contender, Solberg ruined his clean streak by claiming his first two stage wins of the event on the second passes of Peipsiääre and Mustvee.

But, Pajari’s form returned in the following three stages collecting stage wins on SS12, SS13 and SS14, before Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Solberg closed out the day on SS15 and SS16, respectively.

As such, it means Pajari will extend his rally lead from 14 seconds to 25, ahead of Solberg, whilst Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux remained in third, 52.1 seconds away from the leading Toyota.

However, Fourmaux has Neuville on his heels as the two leading Hyundais are only separated by 1.9s going into the final two stages of the day.

2026 Rally Estonia: Full WRC stage guide and times

M-Sport Ford’s Joshua McErlean had trouble on the first stage of the day, with mechanical issues. The Irish crew were seen pushing the car off the road. They managed to get it going again, but dropped down the order, losing nine minutes.

They later retired on stage 10 with a broken exhaust manifold.

That wasn’t the only moment of the day, as Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi had a close shave with a tree on the opening stage of the day, sliding wide at a fast left-hander. He was fortunate enough to skim past a standing tree as his car gripped up once more and returned to the road.

Day two results:

  1. Sami Pajari, Toyota – 2hr 8m 34s
  2. Oliver Solberg, Toyota +25s
  3. Adrien Fourmaux, Hyundai +52.1s
  4. Thierry Neuville, Hyundai +54s
  5. Sebastien Ogier, Toyota +1m 32.8s
  6. Elfyn Evans, Toyota +2m 2.9s
  7. Martins Sesks, M-Sport Ford +2m 16.3s
  8. Esapekka Lappi, Hyundai +2m 42s
  9. Jon Armstrong, M-Sport Ford +3m 3.2s
  10. Robert Virves, WRC2 +7m 7.2s

Takamoto Katsuta, having retired on Friday, returned to the action on Saturday, occupying 25th overall, 13 minutes and 15.9 seconds behind.

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

CategoryNews Rallying WRC

About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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