Sami Pajari Wins in WRC2 at Rally Italy Sardinia

Finnish driver Sami Pajari secured his first victory in WRC2 with Toyota, dominating the final four stages of the Rally Italia Sardegna. With his GR Yaris Rally2, Pajari climbed from eleventh to fourth place in the overall championship standings.

Pajari started the final day with a 54.7-second lead over Yohan Rossel. He maintained a conservative approach in the remaining stages, seeing his lead reduced to 32.3 seconds at the final finish by the Frenchman Rossel. "I was hoping for a good result after the disappointment in Portugal," said the 22-year-old at the end of the Wolf Power Stage. "I knew the pace was there, and we just had to put it all together."

Although Pajari took the victory, Rossel, driving an upgraded Citroën C3 Rally2, was the standout driver of the weekend. After starting Saturday in 15th place, he won eight consecutive stages, surpassing Jan Solans and reaching second place on the penultimate day.

On Sunday, Solans tried to make up ground with his Yaris, winning three of the day's four stages. However, his efforts were not enough, as Rossel maintained a 7.0-second gap, extending his championship lead to 23 points over Solans.

Martin Prokop achieved his best recent result in WRC2, taking his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 to fourth place, 3.9 seconds ahead of Poland's Kajetan Kajetanowicz. In his first WRC2 appearance this year, Robert Virves, also in a Škoda, finished in sixth place.

Pajari also celebrated victory in the WRC2 Challenger championship, while Armin Kremer won in the WRC Masters Cup.