Sami Pajari started Saturday at the Rally Estonia with a 14.7‑second lead over Oliver Solberg and ended the day with a 25‑second margin, six stage wins in nine stages, and his first WRC career victory just two stages away. The first pass through Kääriku, the rally's longest stage at 24.39 kilometres, and the Power Stage that closes the event on Sunday are all that separate Pajari from a result that Solberg, the winner here in 2025, already considers out of reach. "Sami is doing an incredible job and that's it," said the Swede, who was hurt by a soft‑tyre choice in the afternoon that did not work. "I was too optimistic with the choice. It's difficult to know how to rotate them here."

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Solberg had managed to break Pajari's consecutive stage‑win streak from Friday by winning the two morning passes through Mustvee. The gap dropped from 14.7 to 14.1 seconds before the midday service in Tartu, and the Swede, who won this same rally a year ago for his maiden victory, believed he could fight. But Pajari responded with three stage wins in the three afternoon stages and stretched the lead to 25 seconds. Only a hit against a rock on stage 14, which nearly sent him off the road, reminded him that Estonia does not forgive a lapse. "It's not easy, it's never supposed to be, but we are comfortable with the advantage," said Pajari, who during the liaison between stages saw a fan holding a sign telling him not to listen to his co‑driver and to floor it.

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Adrien Fourmaux kept third place but saw Thierry Neuville cut more than five seconds from his lead in the second half of the day. The Frenchman hit a cut‑through protection device on stage 10 and tore a piece of bodywork from the Hyundai i20 N Rally1, an incident that did not escalate but coincided with a loss of pace that Neuville used to close to just 1.9 seconds. Both set identical times on the final stage of the day, leaving the fight for third place wide open for Sunday's two passes. Sébastien Ogier, fifth, called his performance "nothing special" and admitted that the changing road conditions, which cleaned with every passing car, made it impossible to fight the frontrunners.

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Elfyn Evans, sixth, used the better Saturday starting position to climb three places in the first two stages and pass Mārtiņš Sesks, who paid for trying to keep up with a right‑front puncture. The championship leader, who had finished ninth on Friday after opening the road, found a good feeling in the morning and used the afternoon to test setups ahead of Finland. "They didn't go in the direction we expected, but at least we have a solid base for tomorrow," said Evans, who heads into Sunday with a 30‑second margin over Sesks and the Power Stage as an opportunity to score extra points.

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Sesks, who carries a 20‑second penalty for leaving service two minutes late on Friday due to urgent repairs by M‑Sport, stayed seventh ahead of Esapekka Lappi, eighth, who survived a spin‑off on stage 12. Jon Armstrong, ninth in the Ford Puma Rally1, completed a solid day for the M‑Sport structure, which lost Josh McErlean on stage 8 due to an exhaust manifold failure that left him stopped for ten minutes and forced his retirement. Takamoto Katsuta, who retired on Friday with a puncture on stage 6, reappeared on Saturday sweeping the gravel as the first car on the road. His day was a setup test for Finland, the next round of the calendar, and his times reflected that priority.

Estonian Robert Virves, in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, closed the top ten as the WRC2 leader overall, with Roope Korhonen and Teemu Suninen separated by just ten seconds in second and third. Jaspar Vaher, making his WRC2 debut on home soil, retired on stage 8 while running fourth, and Yuki Yamamoto also went out on stage 15.

The Sunday final leg consists of two passes through the Kääriku stage, the rally's longest at 24.39 kilometres. The second pass awards extra points to the five fastest on the Power Stage, and the Super Sunday classification awards another five. Pajari is just two stages away from achieving what Solberg did here exactly one year ago. "I'll do my best. It's still a super long rally," he said before the break. The weather could be a factor. The forecast points to rain that would turn the established order upside down just when Pajari has it closer than ever.

WRC Overall (Saturday)- Rally Estonia 2026

POS	#	driver/COdriver	team	brand	car	time
1	5	Sami PAJARI Marko SALMINEN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt2	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	2:08:34.0
2	99	Oliver SOLBERG Elliott EDMONDSON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 25.0
3	16	Adrien FOURMAUX Alexandre CORIA	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 52.1
4	11	Thierry NEUVILLE Martijn WYDAEGHE	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 54.0
5	1	Sébastien OGIER Vincent LANDAIS	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 1:32.8
6	33	Elfyn EVANS Scott MARTIN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 2:02.9
7	22	Mārtinš SESKS Renārs FRANCIS	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 2:16.3
8	4	Esapekka LAPPI Enni MÄLKÖNEN	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 2:42.0
9	95	Jon ARMSTRONG Shane BYRNE	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 3:03.2
10	18	Takamoto KATSUTA Aaron JOHNSTON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 13:15.9
11	55	Joshua MCERLEAN Eoin TREACY	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 81:07.4
12	23	Robert VIRVES Jakko VIILO	Toksport Wrt	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 7:07.2
13	20	Roope KORHONEN Anssi VIINIKKA	Rautio Motorsport	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 7:17.3
14	21	Teemu SUNINEN Janni HUSSI	Teemu Suninen	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 7:18.1
15	25	Emil LINDHOLM Gabriel MORALES	Toksport Wrt	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 7:43.8
16	37	Mikko HEIKKILÄ Kristian TEMONEN	Mikko Heikkilä	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 7:55.2
17	31	Mille JOHANSSON Johan GRÖNVALL	Mille Johansson	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 8:36.3
18	38	Patrick ENOK Silver SIMM	Printsport	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 8:48.3
19	28	Lauri JOONA Antti LINNAKETO	Lauri Joona	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 8:54.9
20	40	Karl Martin VOLVER Annika SÕNA	Karl Martin Volver	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 8:56.9
21	35	Romet JÜRGENSON Siim OJA	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Fiesta Mk Ii	+ 9:04.8
22	41	Joosep Ralf NÕGENE Aleks LESK	Joosep Ralf Nõgene	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 9:12.4
23	26	Gus GREENSMITH Jonas ANDERSSON	Gus Greensmith	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 9:23.5
24	32	Giovanni TRENTIN Pietro Elia OMETTO	Mt Racing Srl	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 10:35.9
25	43	Takumi MATSUSHITA Pekka KELANDER	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt Ng	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 11:27.6
26	59	Urmo AAVA Silver KÜTT	Redgrey	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 11:46.3
27	44	Shotaro GOTO Jussi LINDBERG	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt Ng	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 12:18.5
28	30	Arthur PELAMOURGUES Bastien POUGET	Arthur Pelamourgues	Hyundai	I20 N	+ 13:31.9
29	42	Tuukka KAUPPINEN Sebastian VIRTANEN	Rautio Motorsport	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 14:39.6
30	24	Fau ZALDIVAR Marcelo DER OHANNESIAN	Fau Zaldivar	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 14:54.5
31	61	Luca HOELBLING Federico FIORINI	Luca Hoelbling	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 26:45.1
32	45	Johannes KEFERBÖCK Ilka MINOR	Johannes Keferböck	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 28:43.9
33	34	Bernhard TEN BRINKE Tom WOODBURN	Bernhard Ten Brinke	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 28:58.8
34	29	Yuki YAMAMOTO James FULTON	Printsport	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 29:24.0
35	46	Ugur SOYLU Mehmet YALÇIN	Gp Garage My Team	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 44:47.4
36	27	Jan SOLANS Rodrigo SANJUAN	Ph.ph	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 59:08.2
37	50	Tymek ABRAMOWSKI Jakub WRÓBEL	Tymek Abramowski	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 17:30.3
38	57	Nicolas OTTO Hugo MAGALHÃES	Nicolas Otto	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 24:29.4
39	60	Isak HATANMAA Ditte KAMMERSGAARD	Isak Hatanmaa	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 34:22.7
40	58	André MARTÍNEZ Matias ARANGUREN	André Martínez	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 37:44.5
41	63	Mika KARPPANEN Kati PERELÄINEN	Mika Karppanen	Renault	Clio Rally3	+ 54:26.9
42	51	Nataniel BRUUN Pablo OLMOS	Nataniel Bruun	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 64:27.3
43	49	Kanta YANAGUIDA Juho KOSKI-LAMMI	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt Ng	Renault	Clio Rally3	+ 68:13.5
44	53	Kerem KAZAZ Corentin SILVESTRE	Team Petrol Ofisi	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 92:10.3
45	62	Esmar-Arnold UNT Arro VAHTRA	Esmar-arnold Unt	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 97:59.1
46	54	Jarkko NIKARA Tomiya MAEKAWA	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt Ng	Renault	Clio Rally3	+ 108:00.7
47	64	Travis PÄRS Allar HEINA	Allar Heina	Peugeot	208 Rally4	+ 32:22.5