The first full day of action included the shakedown stage before the action started in the early afternoon. Elfyn and Scott would open the road throughout the day.
The first stage then, SS1 Raanitsa 1 and Sami set the pace just as he’d done during shakedown earlier from Adrien and Oliver. Elfyn, who was opening the road swept the road clear on his way to seventh fastest and ten seconds down on Sami, but at least he was ahead of Takamoto who held eighth position. Jon in the Puma was setting a really good pace, but unfortunately near the stage end over a jump he landed slightly off-line and damaged a tyre on the front right side, and then suffered bodywork damage to the wing. His teammate Martins was the best of the three M-Sport cars with the fifth best time and was fighting back after a penalty which was given before the action really started. After damaging the car during shakedown, they exited service late by two minutes and was given a twenty second penalty accordingly.
The shorter SS2 Karaski 1 followed, and it was a second stage win for Sami from Oliver and Adrien this time, with Martins showing great pace as well, matching the Frenchman’s pace. Oliver’s pace took him into second overall, pushing Adrien down to third. Meanwhile there were a few other position changes as Thierry passed Seb as he moved into fourth place and both Takamoto and Josh passed Elfyn as they moved into sixth and seventh as the championship leader fell to eighth and Esapekka was now ninth.
The final stage of the loop, SS3 Kanepi 1 before the tyre fitting zone saw Sami make it three out of three from Adrien and Oliver. The Finn was building a lead over his teammate as the gap increased to a little over four seconds. There were some more changes further back as Josh passed Takamoto for sixth place and Esapekka moved into eighth at the expense of Elfyn.
After the short break came the first of the second loop of the day, SS4 Raanitsa 2 and Sami picked up when he left off setting the pace from Adrien and Oliver. It was clear these three had the best of the road conditions as they continued to set the pace at the front. Takamoto repassed Josh for sixth overall in this one.
Next up was SS5 Karaski 2 and there really was no stopping the Finn as he set the pace again from Oliver and Adrien. There was a position change for Elfyn as he re-passed Esapekka for eighth and was now just 2.3 seconds behind Josh. Incredibly Seb, Takamoto and Josh all set an identical stage time in this stage.
Onto the final proper stage then, SS6 Kanepi 2 and this stage would decide the running order on Saturday’s stages. Sami was again fastest from Oliver and Thierry and again three drivers set the same pace again with the Belgian, Adrien and Martins all setting the same time, as there were some position changes further back. Firstly, Takamoto suffered a puncture as the tyre just exploded on a straight piece of road. The pace of the Latvian gained him four positions and he jumped to sixth place, whilst Esapekka also gained two positions moving into seventh place at the expense of Josh and Elfyn who emerged in eighth and ninth overall. Takamoto’s puncture saw him lose five positions and he fell to eleventh place.
The special super stage followed, SS7 Elva Linn, but this would not affect the road positions for Saturday and again Sami was fastest from Martins this time and Thierry.
Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the standings as well.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sami Pajari
“I can be very happy at the end of the day. To take a clean sweep of stage wins and be in the lead is really good, and more importantly the feeling behind the wheel has been really great. The driving has just been flowing quite naturally. Of course, we are pushing but I don’t feel like I’m taking big risk and it feels under control. The morning was super tight with our rivals but in the afternoon we managed to make a bit more of a gap. Still, it’s only Friday. There’s two long days still to go, so no chance to relax yet, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow and will just try to keep enjoying it.”
Oliver Solberg
“Second place is a pretty good position, but I can’t be completely satisfied with the day. This morning it was all pretty close, but the afternoon was a bit more difficult in terms of the times compared to Sami, who has done a great job today. I was struggling a bit with the feeling and to find that sweet spot to be able to push. But we’re not far away and we will keep trying to improve some small things. Tomorrow will be a long day and it will be important to manage the tyres when we’re driving the first and second pass on the same set.”
Sébastien Ogier
“I think it’s been a decent day for us. People know that I will never say I’m happy being in fifth place, but I knew coming here it would be challenging and I think we did a decent job from third on the road after five years not competing here. Sami has been flying today, so well done to him: winning all of the stages is something special. On our side there’s still some work to do to try and improve a bit, work on the car and myself to hopefully be closer to that pace tomorrow and catch some more positions.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been a tough start to the rally for us opening the road today with some very loose conditions. We tried to do all that we can, and it didn’t feel so bad behind the wheel. We just weren’t able to put competitive times on the board, and it could be a bit disheartening to see the guys coming faster behind. Thankfully this afternoon with the ruts forming the time loss wasn’t so bad, and tomorrow should at least be a bit better with a couple of cars in front of us.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“Today didn’t go as expected. It was quite a difficult start already in the morning. We went a bit too much on the soft side with the car setup and it wasn’t working so well in the super high-speed sections. We managed it as well as we could and without losing too much time. Unfortunately, we got damage to two tyres during the second loop and couldn’t continue. It’s very disappointing, but I will just keep trying to do my best over the rest of the rally.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Adrien Fourmaux
“I am very pleased to be third overnight, it has been a good fight today with Oliver [Solberg], and even with Sami [Pajari] at the beginning before he pulled away. I am happy with my driving and the car; it has been a very positive day. Maybe we should have taken some hard tyres this afternoon, which might have helped me a bit more, but there are no regrets. The feeling inside the car has been brilliant, we’re not off the pace, and it’s a dream to be competitive on stages like these.”
Rally Estonia 2026, 17-19 July 2026
Photographer: Romain Thuillier
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville
“It was a bit of a tough day today, but we are going to make some changes before tomorrow’s stage, we will change the transmission and see if everything is working as it should. Then we will see. Those little things, when they don’t work perfectly, can cost you a lot of time especially when you have to reduce your speed and when you don’t have complete trust in the car. We are on the limit, taking a little bit of risk over the jumps – those of us who weren’t flat last year, are basically flat this year – and it’s a tough battle out the.”
Esapekka Lappi
“The driving has not been so challenging for us today, but it has been a bit of a mystery when you look at the times. In testing, we felt really good but today we were very far away. The penultimate stage was a step in the right direction, so it was OK. We changed something with the suspension and the transmission, and it worked because my times were almost matching my team-mates. We will try to do something similar for tomorrow; it might not work for the first pass of the stages, but it might for the second pass.”
Classification after Day One
|
Saturday
What does the second day hold then for the crews? Well for starters, there are nine stages and a huge 150 kilometres. Four are run in the morning before service, then a single stage before the final four run with a break in the middle on them. What will the top ten look like at the end of the day and can Elfyn improve his position and move up into the top five?
Leave a Reply