Rally d’Estonia 2026, Day 1: Pajari the man to beat. Seven wins out of seven stages

Friday marked by perfection for Sami Pajari, who on the first day of the Rally Estonia did not give the slightest chance to his rivals to win any of the seven stages held today. In the format of the Baltic rally, which includes the shakedown and most of the first stages all in one day, the Finn left no room for opponents, with two of them almost always among the top finishers in all the stages: Adrien Fourmaux and Oliver Solberg.

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SS1-SS3: Pajari unbeaten

On the day of Takamoto Katsuta’s hundredth start in the WRC, another Toyota driver stood out on the gravel roads of the Estonian rally: Sami Pajari. In the first three stages, the Finn finished always in the lead of the standings, with Fourmaux (already impressive in the last rally in Greece) behind him in both SS1 and SS3. However, the Hyundai Frenchman made a misstep in SS2, finishing outside the top 3. Solberg, who achieved his first WRC victory in Estonia last year (also on his debut), finished on the ‘podium’ in all the morning stages, with a gap of 4 seconds from Pajari in the overall standings. The one who started the Estonian weekend in the worst way was Martins Sesks: the Latvian, after an accident in the shakedown, received a 20-second penalty for leaving the service park late, due to the mechanics being unable to repair the damage to the Ford in time.

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SS4-SS7: always at the top

Pajari’s hunger for victories did not subside even in the afternoon, during which #5 set the best time from SS4 to SS7. Also in these four stages, Fourmaux and Solberg were the only ones able to keep up with the Finn’s pace, while continuing their fight for second place overall by alternating second and third positions in the stages; while in the first the Frenchman finished ahead of the Toyota rival, the latter finished 2nd in the next three stages, with a delay of almost 15 seconds from Pajari. Day 1 did not end positively either for Katsuta, who lost positions in the standings due to a puncture in SS6, an incident that could therefore have repercussions on the comeback against championship leader Elfyn Evans, who is struggling with the task of opening the road on the fast and rough roads of the Baltic rally. Awaiting Day 2, the Welsh Toyota driver is currently in ninth position.

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Rally Estonia 2026, standings after SS7 (Top-10)