Finnish driver Sami Pajari drove his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 for three days without anyone being able to take away a lead he defended from the very first stage on Friday, and this Sunday he became the 83rd different winner in WRC history. The final margin of 19.5 seconds over Oliver Solberg does not tell the full story of the tension he himself described after climbing out of the car in Tartu. "The pressure was there throughout the whole rally. Until the last stage we had to stay focused because one mistake could have cost us everything," said the 17th Finn to put his name on the championship's roll of honour.

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Pajari went to sleep on Saturday with a 25‑second lead, a gap that Solberg tried to reduce on Sunday's first stage by clawing back just six tenths. The Swede won both passes through Kääriku and took the Power Stage and the Super Sunday classification, a haul of 10 points that eased the disappointment of not being able to defend the result he achieved here in 2025. Pajari, with a sixth place on the Power Stage, secured the victory and another three Sunday points for a total haul of 28 units, moving him to third in the championship with 144 points, eight behind Takamoto Katsuta and 33 behind leader Elfyn Evans.

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Pajari's victory was not an isolated episode; it was the culmination of a regular season that already included five podium finishes in the previous nine rounds. On Saturday, when Solberg took two stage wins in the morning and cut the gap to 14.1 seconds, Pajari responded with three consecutive stage wins in the afternoon to restore the lead to 25 seconds by the end of the leg. The only moment of uncertainty came with a hit against a rock on stage 14, which nearly sent him off the road and which he himself recalled before Sunday's leg. "It's not easy, it's never supposed to be, but we were comfortable with the advantage," he said at the time.

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Solberg returned to the podium for the first time since May and left Estonia with 27 points, the reward for a weekend where he never matched Pajari's pace but showed the consistency that had eluded him in recent rounds. Adrien Fourmaux defended third place against a Thierry Neuville who on Saturday had closed to within 1.9 seconds. The Belgian lost 7.9 seconds on Sunday's first stage due to an issue with the auditory system of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 that nearly caused him to miss the start. That gap broke the duel, and Fourmaux secured his second podium of the year in the same car. Both are tied on 111 points in the championship.

Toyota Gazoo Racing placed all five of its factory drivers on the winners' list for 2026 with Pajari's victory in Tartu. Evans has two wins, as do Sébastien Ogier and Katsuta. Solberg opened the account at Monte Carlo. The Japanese squad has 464 points in the manufacturers' standings and occupies four of the top five positions in the overall classification. Mārtiņš Sesks, despite a 20‑second penalty for leaving Friday's service late while M‑Sport repaired damage from a shakedown hit, finished seventh in the Ford Puma Rally1. Esapekka Lappi finished eighth on his return to the world championship since the Safari Rally Kenya. "The car felt good but the times didn't show those feelings," said the Finn, who is confident of finding answers before Finland.

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Jon Armstrong was ninth in the other factory Ford, and Josh McErlean reappeared on Sunday after retiring on Saturday with an exhaust manifold failure. In WRC2, Estonian Robert Virves won on home soil in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 and received €25,000 from the promoter as the best‑placed local driver. Teemu Suninen took second in the category by beating Roope Korhonen on the Power Stage by 1.2 seconds. The Secto Rally Finland, from July 30 to August 2, will test whether Pajari can repeat on gravel very similar to the one he has just tamed.

WRC Overall - Rally Estonia 2026

POS	#	driver/COdriver	team	brand	car	time
1	5	Sami PAJARI Marko SALMINEN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt2	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	2:31:16.5
2	99	Oliver SOLBERG Elliott EDMONDSON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 19.5
3	16	Adrien FOURMAUX Alexandre CORIA	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 53.8
4	11	Thierry NEUVILLE Martijn WYDAEGHE	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 59.7
5	1	Sébastien OGIER Vincent LANDAIS	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 1:32.9
6	33	Elfyn EVANS Scott MARTIN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 2:01.0
7	22	Mārtinš SESKS Renārs FRANCIS	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 2:35.3
8	4	Esapekka LAPPI Enni MÄLKÖNEN	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 3:02.3
9	95	Jon ARMSTRONG Shane BYRNE	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 3:28.0
10	18	Takamoto KATSUTA Aaron JOHNSTON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 13:23.6
11	55	Joshua MCERLEAN Eoin TREACY	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 81:55.0
12	23	Robert VIRVES Jakko VIILO	Toksport Wrt	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 8:33.1
13	21	Teemu SUNINEN Janni HUSSI	Teemu Suninen	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 8:40.7
14	20	Roope KORHONEN Anssi VIINIKKA	Rautio Motorsport	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 8:41.9
15	25	Emil LINDHOLM Gabriel MORALES	Toksport Wrt	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 9:24.4
16	31	Mille JOHANSSON Johan GRÖNVALL	Mille Johansson	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 10:21.5
17	38	Patrick ENOK Silver SIMM	Printsport	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 10:35.5
18	40	Karl Martin VOLVER Annika SÕNA	Karl Martin Volver	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 10:44.5
19	28	Lauri JOONA Antti LINNAKETO	Lauri Joona	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 10:44.6
20	35	Romet JÜRGENSON Siim OJA	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Fiesta Mk Ii	+ 10:47.0
21	41	Joosep Ralf NÕGENE Aleks LESK	Joosep Ralf Nõgene	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 11:04.0
22	26	Gus GREENSMITH Jonas ANDERSSON	Gus Greensmith	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 11:15.6
23	43	Takumi MATSUSHITA Pekka KELANDER	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt Ng	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 13:25.7
24	59	Urmo AAVA Silver KÜTT	Redgrey	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 14:07.2
25	44	Shotaro GOTO Jussi LINDBERG	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt Ng	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 14:37.5
26	32	Giovanni TRENTIN Pietro Elia OMETTO	Mt Racing Srl	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 15:13.0
27	24	Fau ZALDIVAR Marcelo DER OHANNESIAN	Fau Zaldivar	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 16:41.9
28	42	Tuukka KAUPPINEN Sebastian VIRTANEN	Rautio Motorsport	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 17:58.6
29	30	Arthur PELAMOURGUES Bastien POUGET	Arthur Pelamourgues	Hyundai	I20 N	+ 20:21.6
30	29	Yuki YAMAMOTO James FULTON	Printsport	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 31:18.6
31	61	Luca HOELBLING Federico FIORINI	Luca Hoelbling	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 31:27.2
32	34	Bernhard TEN BRINKE Tom WOODBURN	Bernhard Ten Brinke	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 31:52.5
33	45	Johannes KEFERBÖCK Ilka MINOR	Johannes Keferböck	Toyota	Gr Yaris	+ 35:15.4
34	46	Ugur SOYLU Mehmet YALÇIN	Gp Garage My Team	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 50:21.5
35	27	Jan SOLANS Rodrigo SANJUAN	Ph.ph	Skoda	Fabia Rs	+ 61:05.1
36	50	Tymek ABRAMOWSKI Jakub WRÓBEL	Tymek Abramowski	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 21:19.0
37	57	Nicolas OTTO Hugo MAGALHÃES	Nicolas Otto	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 29:16.5
38	60	Isak HATANMAA Ditte KAMMERSGAARD	Isak Hatanmaa	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 39:54.2
39	58	André MARTÍNEZ Matias ARANGUREN	André Martínez	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 42:27.1
40	63	Mika KARPPANEN Kati PERELÄINEN	Mika Karppanen	Renault	Clio Rally3	+ 61:17.1
41	51	Nataniel BRUUN Pablo OLMOS	Nataniel Bruun	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 68:09.8
42	49	Kanta YANAGUIDA Juho KOSKI-LAMMI	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt Ng	Renault	Clio Rally3	+ 71:21.0
43	53	Kerem KAZAZ Corentin SILVESTRE	Team Petrol Ofisi	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 95:35.9
44	62	Esmar-Arnold UNT Arro VAHTRA	Esmar-arnold Unt	Ford	Fiesta Rally3	+ 101:59.5
45	54	Jarkko NIKARA Tomiya MAEKAWA	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt Ng	Renault	Clio Rally3	+ 111:16.1
46	64	Travis PÄRS Allar HEINA	Allar Heina	Peugeot	208 Rally4	+ 37:25.2