Elfyn Evans and Sami Pajari shared the fastest time at Rally Estonia shakedown, with Toyota locking out the top-five.
The ninth round of the 2026 World Rally Championship is the first of two back-to-back fast gravel events before Rally Finland in a fortnight.
Evans leads the championship by 11 points over Takamoto Katsuta which means he’ll sweep the stages clean later on Friday afternoon; Rally Estonia adopting a condensed itinerary with shakedown on the same day as the event’s first seven competitive stages.
That means Evans’ fifth-best time on the first pass of shakedown might be more representative. Nevertheless his best effort matched team-mate Pajari who was quickest on the first pass from Oliver Solberg.
“Obviously we want to aim as high as possible,” said Evans. “It’s a bit drier than we’d have liked but difficult to know how things will be this weekend.”
Pajari, who’s still searching for a maiden WRC win, added: “Here you need to be b****y quick from the start, so we need to be ready! Maybe there is not so much brain cells left in my head, but I enjoy the adrenalin and high speed.”
Pajari's shakedown pace was promising. He'll start fourth on the road later today
Katsuta ended up a tenth behind the leading pair, with 2025 Rally Estonia Solberg another tenth back – 0.2s off the ultimate pace.
“Last year was last year, but you have to bring that positive energy into the weekend and the belief of course,” Solberg commented.
“It’s been a couple of tough ones now so just need to have a solid, good weekend and whatever result that means we see at the end.”
Katsuta smiled: “This one and Finland are my favorite rallies. I can’t believe we are here as time is going quick – I need to go quick as well!”
Reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier starts his first Rally Estonia in a Rally1 car, having not competed in Tartu since he was a full-time WRC driver in 2021.
He was fifth fastest, 0.5s shy of the fastest times, but 0.3s ahead of Thierry Neuville who was the quickest of the Hyundais.
Adrien Fourmaux was seventh, 1.1s adrift of Neuville and 0.2s clear of Esapekka Lappi who makes his first WRC start since March (Safari Rally Kenya).
“Try to enjoy, that’s the way to go,” said Lappi. “I don’t know what’s realistic for us, so we just try to keep smiling, keep enjoying and the results will come if they are coming.”
Neuville, meanwhile, was bullish: “The target is the victory – it’s the only podium position which is missing here,” he said. “It won’t be an easy challenge but we have to go for it.”
The three M-Sport Fords were separated by just 0.2s on shakedown, with Jon Armstrong leading the pack.
He beat Josh McErlean (who was fourth quickest on the first pass) by 0.1s, with Mãrtiņš Sesks another tenth adrift.
“We’re just trying to get into a rhythm,” said Armstrong. “That was quite high grip and a little bit tricky to get the right attitude of the car, but that’s basically what shakedown’s for. So we’ll get shaken down and then it’ll be a busy afternoon even today when we start the rally.”
Rally Estonia’s first stage begins at 1.03pm local time.
