Flying Finn Pajari doubles up with home glory for Toyota Gazoo Racing - World Rally Team
Flying Finn Pajari doubles up with home glory for TGR-WRT
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team driver Sami Pajari has scored his second successive victory in the FIA World Rally Championship, triumphing on home roads for himself and his team at Rally Finland.
The 24-year-old’s win alongside co-driver Marko Salminen follows just two weeks after their maiden victory at Rally Estonia. It is the 200th win achieved by a Finnish driver in the WRC, in what was the 75th anniversary edition of Rally Finland.
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia – reunited in competition for the first time in almost five years in the absence of regular co-driver Vincent Landais – impressively led the rally with a strong performance from the first forest stage on Friday morning until SS17 on Saturday afternoon when they went off the road and crashed heavily.
“This was not the way that we wanted to end this weekend especially after everything was going so well. But the most important thing is that we are both OK, so a big thank you to the team for building such a strong car. I also need to thank Julien for taking good care of me immediately after the impact and reassuring my family I am well. We will take some rest now and make sure we are back to full strength soon and thank you for all the messages we received. Congratulations to Sami and Marko for another victory and all the team for locking out the podium at home once again.”
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
After staying under observation in hospital overnight, both Ogier and Ingrassia were released on Sunday morning to return home. Both the crew and the team would like to thank everybody – from the medical teams to the fans – for their support and well wishes.
Having also driven a strong and consistent rally – including six stage wins – despite losing time in demanding weather conditions on Friday afternoon, Pajari picked up the lead at the end of Saturday and took an advantage of 46.4 seconds into the final day. Once more appearing to take the magnitude of the potential result in his stride, he adopted a safer approach through Sunday’s two runs of Himos-Jämsa (the longest stage of the rally at 30.02 kilometres) to secure victory by 26.7s.
“We can be very happy with how this rally ended for us, with our crews on all three steps of the podium again here at home in Finland. I’ve been coming to this rally for over 40 years and I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen so much action happening. There was a lot for the fans to follow, and a few heart-in-mouth moments for us, but it’s a good result for us at the end. Sami drove a fantastic rally once again and it makes me proud to see another Finnish winner of Rally Finland. While his focus today was on securing the win, both Oliver and Elfyn were able to be very fast and score good points. We’re glad that Seb and Julien are OK and already back home, and we wish them a good recovery.”
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
Oliver Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson finished second for the second rally in succession with another well-managed drive after conceding the best part of a minute when they experienced the most extreme of the wet conditions on Friday. Solberg was able to top the Super Sunday classification despite experiencing back pain after a heavy landing during the first pass.
“It has been a crazy weekend and a crazy day today. I’m very happy to be here at the finish, on the podium again and to win Super Sunday. We just missed out on the Power Stage by a fraction of a second, but I was just happy to be able to drive the last stage as fast as I could, as I was careful in many places. Still, we take many valuable points and it’s a great result for the team once again.”
Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin completed a podium lockout in third to increase their championship lead. They had been second overall when they rolled at the end of Saturday morning, before recovering back into the top three in their repaired car during the afternoon. Evans went on to come second on Super Sunday and win the Power Stage by just 0.025s over Solberg. Evans now leads the drivers’ standings by 30 points over Pajari, who climbs to second.
“I’m happy to finish on the podium but I owe this one to the team who fixed the car in service yesterday after my mistake. Super Sunday was fast-paced as usual on what was a very quick stage. I maybe wasn’t brave enough on the first pass and tried to do more on the second pass; the grip was much higher and I maybe didn’t use it all but I’m happy with the points we could take away. Congratulations to Sami and Marko; I know how special it feels to win your home rally. There was not a lot between them, us, and Seb and Julien – who I wish a speedy recovery – but they were the ones who didn’t falter and very much deserve this win.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston finished sixth overall. Having lost two minutes with limited visibility in Friday’s rain, they were on course to finish fifth before dropping a place when they made contact with a tree in the rally’s final stage. Katsuta is now third in the championship, 41 points from the lead, with Solberg up to fourth and Ogier fifth.
“It’s been a really tough weekend for me. Today I was hoping to try and take some extra points but it didn’t go so well in the end. In the final stage I saw a rock sticking out on the inside and tried to avoid it, but there was so much loose gravel off the line. We went wide and couldn’t make the next right-hander and hit a tree. It was my mistake and I feel very sorry for the team. I just need to reset and do better next time.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
Even with Pajari scoring under the separate TGR-WRT2 banner, TGR-WRT increases its manufacturers’ championship lead to 174 points.
“It feels simply amazing to win Rally Finland. It’s another dream result for us. It was already a big thing to take the first win in Estonia but to win at home is always something special. Winning at home hasn’t always been easy for Finnish drivers but somehow after a crazy rally we have managed to make it happen. This one was tougher and more intense than Estonia; it was a really close fight with Seb and Elfyn and we were setting very similar times for most of the rally. To be a winner of the ‘1000 Lakes’ is incredible. Marko and I grew up watching legendary drivers win this rally and now we are on top of the podium too; it’s crazy. Big thanks to the team and the fans for all their support.”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala finished on top in his class and in eighth position overall driving the GR Yaris Rally2 car on his home roads, co-driven by team test driver Juho Hänninen. Fellow GR Yaris Rally2 crew Teemu Suninen and Janni Hussi finished second in WRC2, where TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Jaspar Vaher finished a strong fourth with co-driver Rait Jansen.
“It’s an amazing feeling to achieve this result at Rally Finland. I’ve been dreaming that I could still do something like this since I stopped driving full-time in the WRC in 2019. I know that my time in the top category has passed, but to be able to fight with some really fast young drivers in Rally2 machinery has been fantastic. Our GR Yaris Rally2 is an amazing car, and I’m really proud to do this with Juho, who was coaching me all through the whole rally, just like he normally does as an instructor for our TGR WRC Challenge Program drivers. It was one of the most difficult editions of Rally Finland because of the weather conditions, and it was tough for our Rally1 crews as well, but it’s nice to see Sami and Marko win at home as well as a lockout of the podium places.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 40)
PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY FINLAND
|
1. |
Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) |
2h27m58.0s |
|
2. |
Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) |
+26.7s |
|
3. |
Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) |
+1m19.5s |
|
4. |
Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) |
+1m35.9s |
|
5. |
Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) |
+3m52.5s |
|
6. |
Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) |
+4m18.2s |
|
7. |
Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) |
+4m32.7s |
|
8. |
Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hänninen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) |
+8m25.5s |
|
9. |
Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) |
+8m46.9s |
|
10. |
Teemu Suninen/Janni Hussi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) |
+9m03.0s |
Retired Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
(Results as of 14:30 on Sunday)
2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 10:
|
1. |
Elfyn Evans |
201 points |
|
2. |
Sami Pajari |
171 |
|
3. |
Takamoto Katsuta |
160 |
|
4. |
Oliver Solberg |
156 |
|
5. |
Sébastien Ogier |
139 |
|
6. |
Adrien Fourmaux |
129 |
|
7. |
Thierry Neuville |
125 |
|
8. |
Esapekka Lappi |
25 |
|
9. |
Hayden Paddon |
21 |
|
10. |
Josh McErlean |
21 |
2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 10:
|
1. |
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team |
514 points |
|
2. |
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team |
340 |
|
3. |
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 |
184 |
|
4. |
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team |
130 |
What's next?
The Rally del Paraguay (August 27-30) joined the WRC in 2025 with demanding stages around Encarnación, close to border with Argentina. The fast roads feature a red clay surface providing changeable grip levels.
*Information provided by the publicist.
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