Sami Pajari secured back-to-back World Rally Championship wins at Rally Finland, two weeks after his maiden victory in Estonia.
The Toyota driver beat team-mate Oliver Solberg by 26.7 seconds, moving into the lead of the event after SS17 of 20 when Sébastien Ogier suddenly crashed out from first place
His victory was the 200th for Finland in the WRC, poignantly claimed on Finnish soil. Pajari also became the 14th different Finn to win their home round of the championship.
“This feels simply amazing,” Pajari grinned. “It was a big thing to take the win in Estonia but home win is always something special. Winning at home has not always been easy for Finns in recent years, but after one really crazy rally we made it. Big thanks first of all to the team but also the fans for all the support.”
Solberg came home second despite hurting his back en-route to the fastest time on SS19. He topped Super Sunday, but missed the powerstage victory by just 0.025 seconds to Elfyn Evans.
“I braked so much over the jumps because of the pain, I knew I was going to lose the powerstage I tried my best, but it was not good enough,” he said.
“I obviously had the motivation to continue, I got painkillers.”
Despite a roll that cost him almost two minutes on Saturday, championship leader Evans completed the podium in third, now leading the standings by 30 points over Pajari who moved up to second.
Back-to-back podiums – and and nine points from Super Sunday – for Solberg elevated him to fourth in the championship, 45 points adrift of Evans, while Ogier’s non-score leaves him 62 adrift.
Adrien Fourmaux was the best of the Hyundais in fourth – leading the event after Thursday’s Harju stage but dropping significant time on Friday afternoon when heavy rain affected the stages.
He also suffered a bizarre issue on the penultimate stage, when a bumble bee was trapped inside the car and distracted him.
Team-mate Thierry Neuville claimed a surprise fifth place, overhauling Takamoto Katsuta on the powerstage after the Toyota driver ran wide, hit a tree and then nudged another on the next corner.
He lost 1m31.8s on the final stage, slipping to sixth place in the event and third in the championship standings – now 41 points shy of leader Evans.
“I was trying to avoid the inside rocks, but there was so much loose,” he said. “What a disastrous weekend. I’m sorry for the team.”
Josh McErlean was the first M-Sport Ford driver home in seventh; the only one of the Puma Rally1 crews not to retire from a leg of the event.
Jon Armstrong got his car beached on the third stage of the rally, while Mãrtiņš Sesks had been fifth – ahead of Fourmaux – before crashing out at high-speed on SS14.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi failed to finish the event after crashing on SS4, unable to restart due to rollcage damage.
Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala was the first Rally2 car home in eighth overall, but was Škoda’s Robert Virves who won WRC2 – his fourth victory in as many starts in 2026.
Teemu Suninen had got ahead of Virves on SS17 of 20, but was awarded a 30s penalty on Sunday for failing to stop for Patrick Enok’s accident on SS11, which demoted him to second place.
