Onto the final day then of this very tricky rally and after all the tyre drama on Friday, Saturday was a quieter day in terms of incidents. The predicted rain never arrived either on the second day of competition. With five stages to run and a total of 66-kilometres to go, what would we see happen?

 

First up was SS18 Encarnación 1 and Takamoto set the early pace in this one which was beaten by Seb and then Thierry. However, when the leaders came through, they were not able to beat the times set by the first three cars to complete. Elfyn lost third position to Adrien who set the  fifth fastest time.

 

Into SS19 Artigas 1 and Oliver was fastest by 1.3 seconds from Adrien whilst Seb was third. The gap between Adrien and Elfyn widened to 3.1 seconds as well. Meanwhile Jon passed WRC2 leader Diego for seventh overall as well in this one.

 

Next came SS20 Artigas Oeste which was a shortened stage from the original length and Oliver set the pace by one and a half seconds from his teammate Seb, whilst Adrien was third a further half a second back. For the championship leaders, they would see the gap grow a few seconds to Adrien and Alex. Unfortunately, we lost Jon and Shane after this stage after their Puma slid wide and after contact with a bank the rear left suspension was really badly broken.

 

SS21 Artigas 2 was red flagged and then cancelled after a really big crash for Takamoto and Aaron which meant the Yaris was blocking the road. Thierry and Martijn were already in the stage and would stop at the location of the incident. The remaining crews passed through the stage at normal road speed, whilst Takamoto and Aaron were taken to hospital for a check over.

 

It was back then to SS22 Encarnación 2, the powerstage and Oliver would set the pace from Seb, whilst Adrien, Elfyn and Thierry completed the top five positions in this stage. Meanwhile, Sami had taken victory from Hayden and Adrien, the Finnish crew becoming the first to win their first three events in a row.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the final finishing positions.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“I’m really happy and it’s a very proud moment; to realise that we’ve done something that nobody ever has before is really special. A big thank you to the team once again. It was not an easy rally for the drivers or the team, so building such a reliable car is key to this success. This was a very different rally to Estonia and Finland; it was not about being flat-out all the time. We had to manage many different things and I tried to be clever with my driving. It was a really demanding rally but that just makes it even sweeter to be able to win. We’re also well in the fight for the championship. It’s still quite a few points to catch but I will just keep doing the best job that I can.”

Elfyn Evans

“This weekend started pretty well on Friday until we had the issue with the tyre in the afternoon, and after that we didn’t really settle into a good enough rhythm and were missing some pace to hold off Adrien who was really strong. We were maybe a bit too conservative after all the drama of Friday when conditions were perhaps more extreme, but it’s not easy to find the right balance between risk and reward. I can’t be completely happy with the weekend, but others fared worse, and we still come away with some decent points.”

Oliver Solberg

“This morning we lost a bit of time on the first stage which was getting more muddy with each car, but after that we won every stage we drove so we can be happy with that. A big thanks to the team; the mechanics have done an amazing job to keep the car running all weekend on such an incredibly rough event. I feel we were a bit unlucky with some small details on Friday which cost us time, but it’s still been a great weekend feeling so much passion and support from the fans who have really put a smile on my face.”

Sébastien Ogier

“We had a good battle with Oliver today trying to recover as many points as we could from a tough weekend. I was happy with how our day was going up until the Power Stage, where we had a half-spin in a muddy section where I think a lot of people were struggling. Still, we could take nine points from the day which isn’t bad, even if it’s not making a big difference for us in the championship anymore. We didn’t get the result we wanted here but we still had fun behind the wheel and enjoyed our time with the fans.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“The impact in this accident was quite big and that Aaron and I are both OK shows how well the cars are built to keep us safe. Thank you to the team and the FIA for the regulations and thank you also to everyone who helped us afterwards and supported us. I’m not sure exactly what happened but I lost the rear of the car, I tried to correct it and we hit a small bank on the inside that lifted the car onto two wheels. I still tried to save it but we rolled. It was my mistake and I’m sorry for the team and grateful for their ongoing support. This weekend didn’t go well but highs and lows are part of the game and I just need to come back stronger.”

Yuki Yamamoto

“This rally started difficult for me with punctures in the first two stages, which made it hard to find a rhythm. In the afternoon, the feeling and the split times were better but then we had to stop with an issue. Saturday also started pretty difficult with quite a few things happening, but in the afternoon things turned around for the better. I could drive with more of a normal feeling and everything was going smoothly. The final day was really good with no mistakes and good stage times, and it will be good to take that feeling forward to Chile.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Hayden Paddon

“This feels like a win after the journey we have been on. While circumstances may have helped us achieve a podium in Croatia, it feels like we can really celebrate this one. People had problems this weekend, but we also had issues, and since day one we’ve been managing the gap. There is certainly more speed in there, but we had a job to do this weekend, and we’ve done it. I knew it would be tough, and I surprised myself with how we adjusted to it. We knew this was an important rally for the team, which is why we did so much preparation to make the best of this opportunity.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“I’m very proud of what we have achieved this weekend. In particular, seeing that Elfyn was 55 seconds ahead and saying, ‘I’m going to catch him’, I think shows a strong mentality, and it paid off. I think we deserved more than the podium this weekend. In terms of performance, I think we deserved the win, but fundamentally we got a puncture and Sami didn’t. That’s rallying, and ultimately I am very pleased. We worked a lot on the car, and this has been a big step forward in the setup of the car, and it seems to be working well. It’s very encouraging for these final events.”

Thierry Neuville

“I’m obviously very disappointed with how this rally started for us. Things just aren’t going our way at the moment, and we need to cope with that, but we continued fighting and never gave up. We progressively built speed on Saturday to enable us to be fast today; we had good pace, but just not enough to secure more bonus points from the weekend. The main thing is we have brought the car home, and it’s ready for Chile. We learned a lot driving with a softer car, which could help us with the remaining events this season.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“So, that’s Paraguay finished. Sixth overall, equal to our best WRC result. All in all, it’s been a positive weekend. Obviously, it was very tricky with the conditions and everything that Paraguay threw at us. But Friday was strong. Up until the puncture, we were essentially fighting for the podium.

“Saturday was a bit more tricky with the setup and, obviously, the weather we were expecting. But we had some issues on Sunday, managed to fix them and get to the finish. So, all in all, a positive weekend and hopefully we can keep improving our pace going into Chile.”

Jon Armstrong

“So, Rally Paraguay. We had quite a good start on Friday with some good times, but then we got a puncture that we drove on, which ended up damaging the brakes. Then we spun and damaged the car. Friday ended up losing us a lot of time with the repairs we needed to do in service. Then Saturday was a strong day, with some good stage times, and we clawed our way back up to seventh on Sunday.

“Then, three stages from the end, we came to a section that changed surface slightly. We didn’t have quite as much grip as we were expecting, so we went a bit wide, touched a bank and broke the rear suspension.

“So, yeah, really frustrating not to get a result. It’s a bit tricky at the moment because there have been a few results that we’ve missed out on, but we’re going to try and do our best to finish out the year strong now, with Chile coming up next.”

Romet Jürgenson

“It was quite an up-and-down weekend again. Friday didn’t start very well. We had some stuff loose in the cockpit on stage one, which distracted me a bit, and then we got a puncture. We had some small issues in the first loop, but after that we got going. The second loop was fine, and we climbed up to fourth.

“Unfortunately, on Saturday, while pushing quite hard, the rear snapped in a fast corner, and we went off. The team managed to fix the car, and on Sunday we showed some good pace again. But that’s about it. I think we need to almost forget it and go to Chile.”

Final Overall Classification – Rally del Paraguay

1	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	3:13:28.5
2	H. Paddon	J. Kennard	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+25.8
3	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+40.0
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+45.1
5	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:57.0
6	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+4:19.0
7	D. Domínguez	R. Peñate	Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	+7:40.5
8	G. Greensmith	J. Andersson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	+8:03.2
9	A. Galanti	M. Toyotoshi	Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	+10:23.0
10	T. Gill	D. Brkic	Skoda Fabia RS	+10:36.9

 

Super Sunday Classification – Rally del Paraguay

1	S. Ogier	24:30.1
2	O. Solberg	+0.0
3	T. Neuville	+7.6
4	A. Fourmaux	+9.1
5	E. Evans	+17.5

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 11

1	E. Evans	216
2	S. Pajari	196
3	O. Solberg	175
4	T. Katsuta	160
5	A. Fourmaux	149
6	S. Ogier	148
7	T. Neuville	129
8	H. Paddon	38
9	J. McErlean	29
10	E. Lappi	25

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 11

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	554
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	381
3	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	210
4	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	138

 

Summary

What an amazing result then for Sami and Marko who become the first crew to take their first three victories in a row. No other crew have ever done this before, which is an amazing statistic really. They were the only crew this weekend not to suffer a tyre failure, and perhaps this was down to the fact they suffered a cooling issue on the first few stages on Friday, and therefore backed off from the ultimate pace being set by other crews.

 

Moving onto Hayden and John, they were surprised by their performance to secure second place. They had a brilliant drive though, even leading at one point before suffering a tyre failure. This result though showed how good they are at maximising their talent to deliver a superb result. I hope we see them in the car again this year.

 

Finally, what a drive from Adrien and Alex who won nine stages in the end throughout the weekend which took them past Elfyn and Scott on Sunday morning and secured another third place. The pace showed they could have won their first rally as well, were it not for tyre failures. Surely their first win cannot be far away.

Next up then will see the team and crews travel to Chile for round twelve of this year’s championship which takes place over the weekend of the tenth to thirteenth of September.

Day two of this special rally dawned following a heavy storm which came through the service park and actually caused a lot of damage on the site. Three crews returned to the action following their early exit on Friday, with Takamoto, Seb and Thierry would restart with the Japanese driver opening the road followed by his world champion teammate and then Thierry.

 

Once the crews got out to the stages there was a realisation that the rain had not arrived as expected. All the teams had prepared their cars with the prospect of rain, giving the crews an interesting challenge as to how tackle dry roads with a wet set-up on the cars.

 

First up then was SS9 Bella Vista 1 and a good stage length of 21.15-kilometres to face. It was a good start for Elfyn who was fastest from Adrien and Sami. Oliver was sixth fastest and moved up one position to seventh overall. The stage was a clean one as all of the crews made it through with no drama, plus the predicted rain whilst it had fallen very heavily at the service park, there was no rain on the stage at all.

 

Next up came SS10 Bella Vista Sur 1 and remained a dry stage for all the crews. Adrien set the pace from Seb and Sami. Interestingly, Elfyn who was still in third overall behind Hayden and Sami was almost ten seconds slower than Adrien and saw the gap between them come down to 46 seconds.

 

Adrien was fastest again in SS11 Hohenau 1 from Sami and Elfyn, with the Welshman losing another almost six seconds to the charging Frenchman. Meanwhile, the gap between Sami, Hayden and Elfyn was growing. Oliver who was recovering back up the leaderboard passed the WRC2 leader Diego Dominguez for sixth overall. There was a moment for the rally leader as his car slid wide on the exit of a left-hand corner onto two wheels and the result was that although the Finnish crew continued in the stage, there was some damage to the rear wing of the Yaris.

 

The final stage before the lunchtime service, SS12 Trinidad 1 and Seb was fastest from Adrien and Jon in this stage. Elfyn lost a further eight seconds in the stage to Adrien, the gap between them now thirty-one seconds.

 

Into the afternoon stages then with SS13 Bella Vista 2 and the rain was still staying away, with in fact the temperatures were increasing with no clouds of rain in the area of the stages. Adrien was fastest from Elfyn by just one second, whilst Seb was third.

 

Adrien continued his stage winning pace in SS14 Bella Vista Sur 2 going two seconds faster than Seb, whilst Sami was third. Elfyn was fifth fastest and almost eight seconds slower than Adrien meaning that the gap now was just over twenty seconds in their fight over third position overall.

 

Onto SS15 Hohenau 2 and Adrien was again fastest from Oliver and Seb. Elfyn set the same time as Seb, but this was seven seconds slower than the Hyundai driver and now the gap between them was just sixteen seconds. This was getting really close!

 

Just two stages remained then, the first of which was SS16 Trinidad 2 and Seb set the pace from Oliver and Thierry. Adrien did have an overshoot on a left-hand corner but was still faster than Elfyn by three seconds and brought the overall gap to the Welshman down to just thirteen seconds.

 

The final stage of the day then a short 3.1-kilometre blast called SS17 Encarnación Costanera and Takamoto had the best of the conditions which were incredibly muddy. This was the only stage which had heavy rain on it overnight from Friday to Saturday. The Japanese driver was fastest from Thierry and Seb. There was a change in positions between Oliver and Josh as the Swede passed the M-Sport driver for fifth place. Nearer to the front, Adrien took a huge amount time from Elfyn and brought the gap down to just 3.3 seconds.

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top ten.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“We can be happy with today. The conditions were still quite tricky, even if they were a lot more straightforward than the heavy rain we were expecting. Still, we had some moments, losing part of the rear wing when we ran slightly wide in one corner, which affected the handling in the high-speed sections, but it was not a big drama. Otherwise, the car was quick and reliable, and we were able to extend our lead over the day. Like in Estonia and Finland, I’m not getting too excited yet because a lot can still happen, and the weather could be hard to predict again.”

Elfyn Evans

“Our day started pretty well with the fastest time in the first stage. Then in the second stage there were already some huge rocks around, so I played it safe, and it was a similar story in the mud later in the loop. This afternoon we took some hard tyres and it’s difficult to know if that was the correct decision or not, but we were concerned about the wear after yesterday. Adrien has been charging hard and had a strong day, and it was a surprise to lose so much time in the super special, but we can expect more difficult conditions tomorrow and just need to keep doing the best we can.”

Oliver Solberg

“We were hoping to have some rain today to make things exciting for us. Unfortunately, it didn’t come but it still hasn’t been a bad day. The main goal was just to stay clean and try to catch McErlean and we were able to do that, and it’s good to get back up to fifth. It was tricky with the tyres as we didn’t have as many good spares as others to rotate around, but we managed OK. Tomorrow maybe the rain will come, and we’ll try our best whatever happens.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Today wasn’t the easiest one with nothing to really fight for, but we just focused on trying to enjoy the driving with this car as much as we could, and I think we had a decent rhythm. The rain didn’t come as expected but there was some dampness in the last stage of the loop, and we managed to take a stage win there, and another one in the afternoon. Tomorrow maybe some rain is still coming, and let’s see what we can do to try to grab some points.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Everybody was expecting that it would be quite wet today, but the rain never really came. At least with the dry conditions I could just focus on recovering after what happened yesterday. A big thank you to the team for fixing the car so that I could drive again, gain experience on these stages and try to get back the feeling ahead of tomorrow, when I want to try to take some points.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Hayden Paddon

“It’s been a clean, trouble-free day, which is exactly what we wanted. We’re missing a little bit of pace, but we haven’t been in the car for very long, so we’re happy we’ve brought it home in more or less one piece. The super special stage was probably the trickiest for everyone, but all in all it has been a solid day for us. Let’s see what tomorrow brings, as it could be a whole different kettle of fish, but in the meantime it’s mission accomplished.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“The level of this sport is incredibly high, so to be able to set the times we were doing today, I’m incredibly proud. It’s been a good push. We had to manage the tyres, and I think we did a good job. I’m very pleased with the effort from the whole Hyundai Motorsport team. It’s been a good day, and there is still a long one ahead tomorrow, but to be 3.3 seconds off the podium after starting the day 55 seconds behind is quite something.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a long day out there. We didn’t get the conditions we expected this morning when we saw what had happened in the service park overnight – the rain just missed the stages, and it was pretty dry, to be honest. With no real objective other than experimenting with the set-up, we started on a soft set-up and tried to make it even softer to see how the car performed, while also adapting my driving style to suit it. I found it interesting. I’m not quite where I want to be yet and am generally missing a bit of speed in some of the stages, and there was some cleaning as well, but we were progressively improving.”

 

Sunday

The final day of action will see the crews face 66.35-kilometres over five stages, including one stage only run once. Will the rain arrive at all?

The action got underway on Thursday morning with shakedown and Takamoto set the pace from Thierry and Adrien, whilst Hayden and Elfyn were fourth and fifth.  The action then for real started on Friday morning with the first of eight stages and what would we see on this first full day of stages?

 

First up then was SS1 Cambyreta 1 a 24.65-kilometre stage and there was drama from the very start as Takamoto and Aaron rolled out very early in the stage after the rear of their Yaris stepped out. Seb and Vincent also had drama after getting a puncture. The road was changing after the early runners and some rocks were being brought out. Oliver and Elliott were fastest from Adrien and Alex, whilst Hayden and John were third. Less than five seconds covered the top three. Elfyn and Scott were seventh after opening the road and only ten seconds from the lead. Perhaps opening the road wasn’t such a bad place to be.

 

Into SS2 Nueva Alborada 1 a shorter 15.66-kilometre test and once again Oliver was fastest from Josh and Hayden this time. It was a good stage for the M-Sport squad as Jon was also showing good pace with the fourth fastest time and matching Hayden’s pace. The Kiwi’s pace took him and his co-driver John, past Adrien and Alex and into second overall. The M-Sport Irish twins were also on the move with Josh and Jon both moving into fourth and fifth respectively. There was drama again for Seb and Vincent who stopped again to change a wheel on the front left corner following another puncture which was caused when the car struck a bank on the exit of a right-hand corner. We also lost Thierry from the action following the end of stage one with the damage to his Hyundai.

The stages kept coming with SS3 Yerbateras 1 next. This was a proper test of 34.08-kilometres, the longest stage of the weekend. It was a tricky stage for Jon who suffered a puncture on his Puma which then led to damage on the front right-hand side brakes and included the whole calliper falling of the car. The car spun just a few metres down the road and damaged both bumpers and the bonnet, but they did at least make it to the end of the stage then they completed some repairs which meant that they could finish the morning stages and return to service. Hayden won the stage from Elfyn and Josh and this gave us a new top three, with the Kiwi’s leading the way from Josh and Elfyn. We did lose Seb from the action as his front suspension gave way in the stage. Also, to suffer tyre problems were Adrien, Sami, Oliver, Josh and Jon. Oliver also had a spin in the stage and his engine stalled which meant he needed to have a push start from some fans to get going again.

 

The short SS4 Autodromo 1 stage of 2.5 kilometres followed before service and Adrien was fastest from Oliver and Sami, whilst Hayden continued to hold the lead from Josh and Elfyn. The only change in position in the top ten was that Adrien passed Jon for sixth place.

 

After the lunchtime service came SS5 Cambyreta 2 and Adrien was fastest from Elfyn and Sami. Hayden continued to hold the lead from Elfyn now who had passed Josh for second place. Adrien was also gaining positions and passed Diego for fifth overall. There were no punctures incredibly for the crews in this stage, which was amazing really.

 

It was all change following the end of SS6 Nueva Alborada 2. Adrien set the pace from Sami and Elfyn. Elfyn moved into the lead from Hayden after the Kiwi suffered a puncture on the front right of his Hyundai. Also moving up was Sami who passed Josh for third place.

 

The final long stage of the day, SS7 Yerbateras 2 saw some more drama, as Sami set the pace from Oliver and Hayden. Elfyn’s lead was short lived as he suffered a tyre delamination. Scott and him, decided to continue and not stop, which worked well as they only lost just over a minute meaning they finished the stage still holding a podium position and only 56 seconds from the new leader Sami, whilst Hayden was now second even though he also had a tyre failure nearer to the end of the stage.

 

The final stage then, SS8 Autodromo 2 and Adrien was fastest from Hayden and Oliver, whilst Sami continued to lead the rally from Hayden and Elfyn.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top ten.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It’s been a crazy day with many stories to tell for us and for everybody else. Our day didn’t start great as we got a water leak on the first stage, but thankfully we could make a fix to get through the morning and get back to service. After that, the car was working to its full potential and we could enjoy it as much as possible, but today was still more about survival than we expected. It’s nice to be in the lead but I think on this rally it’s not meaning so much; with the weather forecast, the most demanding days might still be to come.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a dramatic day for almost everybody, with very few who haven’t had their fair share of trouble already. We’ve been focused on trying to be clean and having a good rhythm, and everything’s been working fine in the car. It has been challenging for the tyres and we had to manage some issues through both long stages and unfortunately lost quite a bit of time. Others have fared even worse than us so the overall position isn’t bad, and the rain might bring a very different set of challenges for tomorrow.”

Oliver Solberg

“Today was definitely trickier than expected. I had a good feeling this morning and the first two stages were nice. Then we were a bit unfortunate; going into a junction I lost the engine and needed help from the fans to restart, and then we got a slow puncture and stopped to change it. It’s a pity so much time was lost but that’s rallying. After that we just tried to be clean, and nothing is over; there could be crazy weather over the weekend so anything can still happen.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Unfortunately, this rally quickly turned out to be very challenging for us. In the first stage we got a puncture on a landing from a jump, and we also had a bit of an electronic issue going into the next stage. I maybe lost concentration a bit, came a bit too fast over a crest and hit the bank on the outside; it was my mistake, and we damaged the front-left suspension. We tried to fix it and continue, but eventually we had to stop for the day.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“At the beginning of the first stage there was a very high-speed approach down into the forest and I probably just came too fast into this corner; it was my mistake. I lost the rear of the car and wasn’t able to recover it and we rolled. Initially we tried to continue but we stopped to prevent any further damage. I’m really sorry for the team and it’s a tough moment but we will try to regroup.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Hayden Paddon

“Today has almost been Safari-spec. It’s been difficult for everybody; managing the tyres has been the biggest thing today, and it’s been very tough. I think we’ve managed it as best as we could – obviously we had a couple of punctures, but luckily we didn’t have to stop on stage to change them and were able to manage them in the stage to avoid more damage. Tomorrow will be a different challenge – there may be rain, and whether it’s just one or 100mm, it’s going to be slippery. We will have to reset tomorrow and have a different mindset for tomorrow, as there is still a long way to go in this rally.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“All in all, I am happy with my day, particularly with my pace and how I managed the tyres – there is still some work to do as we have delaminations; it is different to when you have a puncture from a rock, so it’s a shame. Otherwise, I was enjoying the stages – although I am happy I was not in a casino today, as I would have lost everything. If the rain comes tomorrow, I think it’s going to be a really difficult day.”

Thierry Neuville

“This was the worst possible start for a rally where everything was set up for a good weekend. For the first few kilometres we had a good feeling in the car, but then we came fast over a blind crest, on the landing we went over a stone and immediately got a puncture and lost the brake line. We decided to carry on, and picked up further damage to the suspension, and had to retire the car.”

Classification after Day One

1 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1:28:28.7 2 H. Paddon J. Kennard Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +11.9 3 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +56.3 4 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:51.3 5 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +2:23.1 6 D. Domínguez R. Peñate Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +2:36.0 7 G. Greensmith J. Andersson Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +3:15.4 8 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +3:33.3 9 M. Bulacia J. Murado Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +4:01.4 10 R. Jürgenson S. Oja Ford Fiesta Mk II +4:36.9

Saturday

The second day of action in Paraguay will see the crews tackle 135.74-kilometres over nine stages. The morning loop has four stages and then the same four are run in the afternoon before an extra stage finishes the day. There is rain predicted for the whole day as well, which will make things very interesting.

Time then for the eleventh round of this years World Rally Championship as the teams head to the first of two rounds on the South American continent. At the last round, Elfyn and Scott increased their championship lead after finishing in third place in Finland. Of course, Sami and Marko are the latest crew to be second in the championship after their first championship victory in their home event.

 

The crews will have a big challenge in this weekend’s rally which is the second time that Paraguay will be running a championship round. This year’s edition has 357.64 kilometres over twenty-two stages. Comparing to last year, this means that there are three more stages this year and this has increased the number of competitive kilometres by over twenty.

 

Let’s take a look at the stages and hear from the drivers.

 

Friday is the longest day with 153.78 kilometres over eight stages, then Saturday is a shorter day with 135.71 kilometres over nine stages, whilst Sunday has 68.12 kilometres over five stages.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“Our first time competing in Paraguay last year proved a lot more challenging than everyone had anticipated. On paper the stages looked quite straightforward with many long straights and junctions, but the rally was made far more difficult by the polished clay surface and the changing grip levels. Then, when it rained on the final morning, there was almost no grip available at all. In our position running first on the road on these gravel rallies, some rain can help to level the playing field, but it can also turn quickly into a lottery when the grip is so low. Like always, we’ll just have to do our best in whatever conditions we face when the rally begins.”

Sami Pajari

“Since Rally Finland it’s been nice to have some time to really enjoy and appreciate what we’ve achieved recently before we refocus on the coming rallies in South America. It was great to go to Paraguay for the first-time last year and see the excitement of all the fans there. It’s quite a nice rally to drive with really fast roads and some big jumps, which I always enjoy. There are also some really twisty sections and if it rains, the surface can become crazy slippery. Our recent results don’t change our approach for this event; we just have to continue trying to do the best job possible and hopefully we can keep achieving good results.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I have very good memories from Paraguay and can’t wait to go back. There were so many fans supporting us and it was a really impressive event. The roads themselves are nice and enjoyable, but we discovered last year that the surface is very unique; very compacted and very polished, and there was very little grip when it rained. With that knowledge from last year, it can be easier to go back, but we can’t know exactly how the conditions will be this time. Anyway, we will try to enjoy it once more and hopefully it can be a nice rally for us.”

Oliver Solberg

“Paraguay put on an amazing event last year and it was special to experience the atmosphere there and the passion of the people. The roads were also rather unique, with narrow sections and wide sections and jumps and dips, and the surface was quite slippery at times. It was a lot of fun, even if it was pretty difficult. In the faster places it felt like we were on the limit with the Rally2 car; with the Rally1 car and the extra downforce we will be able to carry more speed, but I’ll need to make that adjustment like on almost every rally this year. After two podiums in the last two rallies, I hope we can keep this run going.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Rally Finland didn’t turn out the way we hoped after what had been a very good rally until the point that it ended for us, but the most important thing is that Julien and I were both OK. Now we’ve had some time to rest and recover and I’m ready to compete in Paraguay together with Vincent. Even if our championship hopes are more or less over, we still want to aim for the top step in each of the remaining rallies this year, and help the team secure the manufacturers’ title. We experienced a great first rally in Paraguay last year, with an amazing atmosphere as well as challenging stages and conditions, and we will try our best to repeat our victory there.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I’m really looking forward to Paraguay. After two fast rallies, we are back to more typical gravel stages, with a more dynamic and technical profile, which I generally prefer. I really enjoyed the stages last year and the atmosphere was great, so I can’t wait to be back. We learned a lot from the event last year, particularly with some of the technical choices we made, so this year we have made some different choices with the set-up. The roads are also quite cambered, and the weather can play an important role – when it rained last year, it was super slippery. Finland didn’t go as we wanted, although we had the speed and were back to a good feeling on Sunday. For me, I’m only chasing victories and the best possible results, so the target in Paraguay is as high as it can be.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Last year we had a really strong rally in Paraguay. We were leading on Friday and fighting at the front for most of the weekend, so it’s an event where we know we can be competitive. The stages are quite unique, with the grip changing a lot and some very fast sections, so you need to have confidence in the car and be able to adapt quickly. We learned a lot there last year, and after our recent performances on fast gravel I’m looking forward to going back. The target is clear: we want to fight at the front again and this time make sure we come away with the result.”

Hayden Paddon

“I’m very excited to finally be on gravel with the car, and to be doing it in South America makes it even more special. It feels like a full-circle moment. Our mileage on gravel is limited to just two short tests, but from the very first kilometre I felt at home in the car and on the surface. I know the car reasonably well now from our tarmac events, and gravel is my comfort zone, so it’s a matter of combining the two and getting up to speed as quickly as possible. We’ve spent a lot of time studying videos and data to prepare, and the fact that 40% of the route is new this year helps us a little. The target is different to our tarmac events – this time we want to drive flat out, give it everything we have and deliver the strongest result possible for the team.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Heading back to Paraguay gives us a good opportunity to build on everything we learned there last year. Having that experience and a better understanding of the stages and conditions should put us in a stronger position from the start. “Finland was a positive weekend for us, and we want to carry that momentum into South America. We’re into the final part of the season now, so the focus is on continuing our progress and finishing the year strongly.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m looking forward to the challenge of rallying in a new continent once again. Having never been to South America, it will be amazing to sample the roads for the first time. We’re looking to take a more steady approach with the upcoming events, whilst using our road position to our advantage. It’s nice to be coming back to WRC off the back of a victory at the Grampian Rally – which is a real confidence boost – and we’ll continue to work on our progress as we return to the Puma Rally1 for the remainder of the year.”

Rally2 competitors

Yuki Yamamoto (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)

“These next two rallies will be a completely new adventure for me and I’m firstly looking forward to visiting South America for the first time. Last year when I was watching Paraguay from home, it looked quite unique with a massive atmosphere and challenging stages. I’ve been trying to prepare as best I can by watching onboards from last year; the roads look fast but if it’s wet the conditions can be tricky with very slippery surfaces. It will be a big challenge but after the last few rallies I’m hoping that we can change the momentum towards a nice result.”

Romet Jürgenson (M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2)

“Paraguay is going to be something new for me again, and it’ll be the first time ever going to South America as well, so there is a lot to discover. But from what I remember watching from home last year, it looked like a very nice rally with a great atmosphere, and I think as an overall experience it’s going to be something very unique.

“We have had a bit of time to prepare and understand what is needed for this kind of event, and I think it’s important to get the knowledge from this rally to allow us to hopefully compete at the top level of the sport someday.”

 

Summary

This will be an important round for Elfyn and Scott in their bid to become the 2026 World Rally Champions. With a thirty-point lead over their teammates Sami and Marko, if they can increase the gap to the Finns it will put them in a very good position to join Colin and Derek and Richard and Robert as champions.

The reigning champions, Seb and Vincent are fifth in the standings and sixty-two points behind, making it a tricky challenge for the French crew to retain the title. We should never write off them though and it’s very likely that Elfyn and Scott certainly won’t have.

In terms of road position, it’s fair to state that Oliver, Seb, Adrien and Thierry will likely have the best road position on Friday’s stages should the conditions remain dry. However, if there is any rain on the stages, then this will change things and as we have seen in Kenya this can have a big effect on the times which the crews can set.

It will also be very interesting to see how Hayden and John get on as well. The 2016 Rally Argentina winners have always gone well on gravel rallies. I hope that they have a very good event, let’s see how they get on.

Looking at M-Sport Josh and Eoin will be competing at this event for the second time and will bring what they learnt last year. For their teammates, Jon and Shane, they will look to complete the stages and take learnings into the future.

The action starts with shakedown on Thursday morning where the crews will take turns to run through the stage in championship order, giving them and the teams the opportunity to prepare their cars for the three days of stages.

 

We came then to the final day and although there were only (yes, I know) two stages remaining, they were thirty kilometres in length giving a total of sixty kilometres over the final day. The stage had everything as well with quick sections and a more technical end as the crews came into the ski section area.

 

Just a correction to make from yesterday’s report as I stated that Martins and Renars would open the road after their exit stage left during yesterday. As their teammates Jon and Shane were the first retirement, they would continue to open the road during these two stages.

 

Onto the action then with SS19 Himos-Jämsä 1 and Oliver set the pace, going almost three seconds faster from Elfyn and Takamoto was third. The highest placed Hyundai crew were Adrien and Alex with the fifth best time, whilst further back Josh and Eoin were seventh fastest and the best placed M-Sport crew. Adrien’s time was actually amazing as there was a large bumble bee in their car causing a huge distraction for them. Oliver’s time was also quite remarkable as he’d hurt his back on one of the jumps in the stage.

 

There was a regroup before the crews prepared to go again in the powerstage just over two hours later.

 

It was time then for SS20 Himos-Jämsä 2 Powerstage and Jon set the early pace which could not be beaten by his teammates. The first crew to beat that time was Thierry before Adrien, Oliver and Elfyn came through. There was disaster for Takamoto and Aaron though as he lost control on a fast right-hander before going offline and hitting some bushes on the outside of the following corner with the front of the Yaris. There was damage to the front which included the cooling pack. He limped to the end and lost fifth position whilst Josh also almost ended up passing the Japanese driver for sixth. Thierry was the one who passed Takamoto moving into fifth place. The Welshman and his Swedish teammate actually set the same time in the stage, meaning that the timing needed to be taken to the hundredth of a second. It was Elfyn that got the nod for the fastest time giving him the maximum powerstage points. However, it was Oliver who was fastest over the two stages and would take the maximum Sunday points. Meanwhile Sami and Marko had crossed the line and taken their second win in a row on their home rally. What a result for them.

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the final finishing positions.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“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.”

Oliver Solberg

“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.”

Elfyn Evans

“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.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“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.”

Sébastien Ogier (DNF)

“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.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I have some mixed feelings at the end of Rally Finland. I’m very happy because I was really enjoying the rally, and I’m very pleased with the pace I was giving in the stages. I’m just a bit disappointed not to finish on the podium. We lost 1 minute 25 seconds to Sami in the rain on Friday, and today we have ended the rally 1 minute 35 seconds behind, which shows how close the gaps are if we removed the rainy stage. However, I’ve no regrets. We scored good points on Sunday, but I do feel we deserved more than that.”

Thierry Neuville

“Friday was the toughest day for our rally, and after that we were just waiting for today to take some Power Stage and Super Sunday points. In the end we scored four bonus points, which is a decent result considering what happened on Friday. It was a bit of bad luck; we went a little wide, hit one stone, and that was enough to damage the suspension. Then we were unlucky again with the timing of the rain. The result of that made the rest of the rally very challenging, but I was able to enjoy today.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Rally Finland complete. It’s been a crazy weekend with the number of accidents along the way, but we’ve kept our noses clean and to finish seventh overall is a really positive result. Obviously Friday was tricky with the weather, but after that we found a good pace and were fighting with Thierry throughout Saturday. It was hard to hold on to that on Sunday, but overall, it was a clean weekend with plenty of positives to take away, and hopefully we can carry that into South America and come away with another good result.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“I think overall the rally started quite well, especially on Friday afternoon. In the rain we found a really good feeling with the car, and that continued into Saturday morning where we had some really good pace. We made an unfortunate mistake, probably from being a little too optimistic, and unfortunately it ended with a crash. The team then did an amazing job to repair the car and get us back out for Sunday, which was a great team effort and a real highlight of the weekend.”

Jon Armstrong

“It’s my first Rally Finland in 10 years, and I wanted to get as much mileage as possible to learn more about the event. That was the aim, but on Friday we got caught out on one of the narrow roads, got pulled into the ditch and got stuck, so it was a shame not to finish the day and get that extra mileage. After that, it was all about getting as much seat time as possible on Saturday and Sunday, learning more about the event and the roads. Some of the pace has been pretty good, but we obviously still need to improve going forward. Overall, it’s been an okay weekend, and now we’re looking forward to South America to learn what those events are all about, as well as the Grampian Rally next weekend.”

 

Summary – The Podium

What a result then for Sami and Marko taking their second win in a row and bringing themselves into the title fight. They won six of the twenty stages, meaning they were on the pace and although they moved into the lead when Seb and Julien crashed out, it was a deserved victory. They are now thirty points from Elfyn and Scott who continue to lead the championship.

 

Oliver and Elliott took second position, and this is their second podium in a row as well after second place in Estonia. This improved their points position as well, due in part to their pace over the two stages which made up the stages over the final day. Fastest over the stages gave them maximum points over super Sunday and second in the power stage meant they’d given themselves a good boost of points in the championship fight.

 

Finally, Elfyn and Scott paid tribute to the mechanics at the Toyota rally team who’d carried out the repairs after the stage where he rolled out of second place at the time. He then passed Adrien for position which then became third position. Their pace on the final day gave them second in the super Sunday standings and the fastest time in the power stage. These points meant they’ve actually increased their lead in the championship standings with four rounds left.

Final Overall Classification – Rally Finland

1	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:27:58.0
2	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+26.7
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:19.5
4	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+1:35.9
5	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+3:52.5
6	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+4:18.2
7	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+4:32.7
8	J-M. Latvala	J. Hänninen	Toyota GR Yaris	+8:25.5
9	R. Virves	J. Viilo	Skoda Fabia RS	+8:46.9
10	T. Suninen	J. Hussi	Toyota GR Yaris	+9:03.0

 

Super Sunday Classification – Rally Finland

1	O. Solberg	27:00.3
2	E. Evans	+2.9
3	A. Fourmaux	+15.5
4	T. Neuville	+19.3
5	S. Pajari	+19.7

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 10

1	E. Evans	201
2	S. Pajari	171
3	T. Katsuta	160
4	O. Solberg	156
5	S. Ogier	139
6	A. Fourmaux	129
7	T. Neuville	125

Onto Saturday then and there were 126 kilometres over eight stages for the crews to tackle. Jon and Shane returned to the action and would open the road throughout the day. What would the day hold?

 

Well, it was straight into the action with SS11 Parkkola 1 and Elfyn was the pacesetter, going fastest from Sami and Seb. The Welshman had nibbled a few seconds from Seb’s lead which was encouraging, bringing the gap down to thirteen seconds. Sami who held third overall also closed the gap a little. There was a change in positions in the lower top ten as Takamoto passed Josh for seventh overall.

 

The second of the four stages in the morning loop was SS12 Päijälä 1 and Sami set the pace from Seb and Elfyn this time. All the drivers said how much they’d enjoyed this particular stage. Further back, Adrien was focusing on closing the gap to Martins who held fifth overall and the Frenchman reduced the gap by almost seven seconds to the Latvian.

 

Sami made it two in a row, going fastest in SS13 Västilä 1 from Elfyn and Seb as the top three continued their front running pace. Meanwhile the fight between Martins in fifth and Adrien in sixth the Latvian kept the time loss to a minimum, only losing 1.7 seconds and the gap was now twelve seconds.

 

The final stage then before the lunchtime service break, SS14 Leustu 1 and Seb was fastest from Sami and Takamoto, but this was not the whole story of the stage. Firstly, Martins crashed out of the stage at around 1.6 kilometres into the stage and they were out for the day. Jon who was opening the road had a wide moment but managed to finish the stage. Finally, Elfyn, who’d almost finished the stage ran wide, dropping the left rear into a ditch which sent the car into a triple roll, finally finishing on it’s wheels. The car was still running, and he got going again, only to drive forwards into the ditch. The spectators who amazingly included Elfyn’s dad came to help out, getting the Yaris out from the ditch and Gwyndaf directed his son to the best exit from the field, back onto the stage and he’d lost almost two minutes, yet was still holding fifth place. Oliver was the one to benefit moving into third overall.

After the service break came SS15 Parkkola 2 and Sami was fastest from Elfyn who’s car had been rebuilt during service and Oliver Rally leader Seb was fourth and maintained a good lead of just over twenty seconds. Elfyn who of course was fifth but eyeing up Adrien’s fourth position closed the gap to the Frenchman, now just a little over six seconds back.

 

Onto SS16 Päijälä 2 and it was another stage win for Seb by just two tenths of a second from Elfyn whilst Sami was third fastest. Elfyn’s pace had edged closer to Adrien, the gap now just over four seconds. Meanwhile Josh was doing the best to keep Thierry behind him as the Belgian was edging closer for seventh place.

 

There was huge drama at the end of SS17 Västilä 2 though, after Sami, Elfyn and Oliver had already finished the stage and held the top three fastest times. Seb sadly crashed out of the lead at just over 18 kilometres into the 19-kilometre stage. The stage was red flagged, and a helicopter was brought in to take Seb to hospital. This all meant that now Sami was leading from Oliver, whilst Adrien was up to third, yet Elfyn was on the same overall time as the Hyundai driver.

 

The final stage of the day then, SS18 Leustu 2 and Elfyn was fastest from Sami and Oliver, The Welshman’s pace took him into third overall as Adrien’s hold on the position came to an end after just one stage. The other Hyundai crew Thierry and Martijn were moving up though as they passed Josh for what was now sixth place.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top twn.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It has been a crazy day with a lot of different things happening, and suddenly we find ourselves in the lead tonight. The morning was really enjoyable; I was having maybe the best time that I’ve ever had behind the wheel of a rally car, driving these beautiful stages with the best car in the world. After Elfyn’s roll we moved up to second and thought the gap to Seb was too much to catch, so I just tried to keep enjoying and keep some flow in my driving. Then Seb went off, and the most important thing is that both he and Julien are OK. It shows that things can change very quickly, and we still have two stages to do tomorrow, so nothing is decided yet.”

Oliver Solberg

“My feeling was good in the first stage this morning, but I had some issues hearing my pacenotes in the next one. The gap to those in front became a bit too big and I didn’t want to take too much risk, so the plan was to try and preserve our position and see what happens. Then Elfyn had his roll and later Seb and Julien went off – I’m glad that they are both OK. Tomorrow will be a new day and a new fight, and we’ll do the best we can to secure some valuable points.”

Elfyn Evans

“Today started pretty well with a good feeling in the car. Unfortunately, we got caught out in the last stage of the morning, running a bit wide into a ditch and rolling multiple times. A huge thanks to the team who did an incredible job to put the car right in service; it was brilliant all afternoon and that allowed us to fight and gain back positions. The main target was fourth, and that became third after what happened to Seb and Julien; I want to wish all the best to them this evening. Tomorrow we’ll be trying our best like always.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today’s stages were very challenging, and you needed big commitment and confidence. After the time lost yesterday, our main focus was on trying some different things with the car setup. It’s hard to find a big step forward, but the times in the afternoon were not too bad. Hopefully what we found can work well tomorrow and we’ll try to get some more points. I feel sorry for what happened to Seb and Julien and I’m glad to hear they are OK.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“It’s been a bit of a crazy day for us, with a lot of drama on the stages. We started in sixth, were fourth by midday, then made it into podium positions before losing it again. I have no regrets though, I gave everything I had in the afternoon loop, but the later cars were able to go much faster and we lost third to Elfyn. Even so, I am really pleased with today. I felt good in the car, so let’s see what is possible tomorrow. It won’t be easy with a 3.8-second gap to Elfyn, but our target is to find some more speed than him.”

Thierry Neuville

“It has been a long day for us, with not much for us to play for. We wanted to catch two positions – Taka and Josh – but in the end we could only manage to overtake Josh with a push on the final stage, which was definitely the nicest of the day. It was the maximum we could do as we look ahead to tomorrow, where hopefully we can score some Super Sunday points. It will be difficult, as we have seen today that the cleaning makes a difference, and running at the front we struggle for grip, but it is important we take as many points as possible from a challenging weekend.”

 

Classification after Day Two

1	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:00:38.0
2	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+46.4
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:36.3
4	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+1:40.1
5	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:54.5
6	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+3:52.9
7	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+3:54.4
8	J-M. Latvala	J. Hänninen	Toyota GR Yaris	+6:50.8
9	T. Suninen	J. Hussi	Toyota GR Yaris	+7:01.1
10	R. Virves	J. Viilo	Skoda Fabia RS	+7:04.2

Sunday

The final day will see Martins and Renars return to the action after the M-Sport team rebuilt the Puma in four hours. They will therefore open the road on the final two stages which are thirty kilometres in length. Will there be any final drama in them?

The first day of action on the amazing roads in the Finnish forests and the crews had 130 kilometres over nine stages. There has been a single stage run on Thursday evening and the top three was Adrien then Thierry and Seb.

 

Straight into the action with SS2 Laukaa 1 and Seb was fastest from Esapekka and Adrien. The Frenchman’s pace gained him two positions and put him and the returning Julien into the lead from Adrien and Alex, whilst Thierry and Martijn were third. Championship leaders Elfyn and Scott were fifth after dropping behind Esapekka who’d found some pace after a huge amount of preparation for this rally.

 

Onto SS3 Saarikas 1 and it was a stage win for Sami from Seb and Thierry. It had been a good start to the event for the Hyundai crews as well. Sami’s pace lifted him and Marko into third overall and was only four seconds behind the leader who was Seb. Sadly, we lost Jon and Shane in this one as they slid off the road and could not get back on, even with some help from spectators.

 

Next up came SS4 Sydänmaa 1 and once again Seb was fastest from Sami and Elfyn. The Finn and Welshman both gained positions moving into second and fifth respectively. Unfortunately, we lost Esapekka and Enni as the car slid wide and was sent into a roll, before finishing on its roof. They were out for the day.

 

The final stage of the morning loop was SS5 Hoho 1 and it confirmed Toyota’s dominance after winning all the morning stages. It was Seb again who delivered this pace from Adrien and Oliver. Adrien’s pace took him into second overall, whilst Oliver was also finding some pace and moved into fourth. Further back Takamoto and Martins both gained positions as well, going into sixth and seventh. It was a painful second stage in a row for Hyundai as Thierry hit something and damaged the front right suspension. The Belgian lost over a minute and a half finishing the stage. However, they made some repairs and got back to the service park meaning they could at least continue in the afternoon.

 

After the service break came SS6 Laukaa 2 and Sami set the pace from Oliver and Seb. Sami passed Adrien after the Frenchman was only fourth fastest.

 

SS7 Saarikas 2 saw the rain arrive in a big way for the later crews meaning the first two into the stage had the best conditions. Elfyn was fastest from Takamoto and Sami. This just showed the conditions were way harder later. With big heavy rain falling and Oliver lost almost a minute. Elfyn’s pace lifted him into third overall, and less than ten seconds from the leader.

 

Into SS8 Sydänmaa 2 and Oliver made the best of the conditions as Elfyn was still opening the road and had the worse of the rain in this one. Martins was second fastest whilst Seb was third. It was a painful stage for Takamoto who lost over two minutes with a fogged-up windscreen for half of the stage and Sami who didn’t lose so much and was thirty-four seconds down. His teammate, Elfyn passed Sami for second overall but with Seb having the best conditions they took a healthy 26 second lead.

The last forest stage then of the day SS9 Hoho 2 and Adrien showed what their car was capable of with the fastest time from Oliver and Martins. The Latvian in the M-Sport Puma was really finding some form towards the end of the day. Elfyn trimmed Seb’s lead a little to 18 seconds.

 

It was two stage wins in a row for Hyundai in SS10 Harju 2 with Thierry going fastest, but with an identical time as Takamoto whilst Elfyn was third, just three tenths back.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top ten.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“We started this morning with the plan to push because rallies like this are usually fought with very small gaps. It’s important to be in a good rhythm right away and we had a good morning, but it was still very close. This afternoon with the rain that came was a different story: then it was about trying to survive those conditions without losing too much time. It seems we managed it quite well as we increased our lead, so that’s very positive, but I’m sure the others will keep pushing and we will still have a fight on our hands for the rest of the weekend.”

Elfyn Evans

“We made a decent start this morning; the grip was changing a lot from corner to corner but the driving felt pretty committed. Then the rain arrived this afternoon and we took advantage on the second stage before the conditions deteriorated. On the next stage we got the rain pretty heavily at the start, so that was tricky to navigate, but it’s been a difficult afternoon for many people so we’re happy to get through it in this position. Seb’s had a great day and it’s a big gap to try and catch, but it’s still relatively early days in this rally and we just need to keep doing our best.”

Sami Pajari

“The morning loop was pretty decent for us, but we still had room to improve, and we tried to step up our game for the second loop. We won the first stage of the afternoon, and even in the second one when the rain came we could close the gap to Seb to just a few seconds. Then the third stage of the loop changed everything. It was really demanding for everyone, and for some reason visibility was very difficult for us and we lost a lot of time. Anyway, we are still in a podium position and the fight is still on.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been a pretty crazy day. This morning I never quite found the perfect feeling, but I tried to not over push and to stay in the mix. In the afternoon I felt much more comfortable, and then the heavens opened. I think we were a bit unlucky with exactly when the rain hit and when it was most intense, but we fought back later on with good speed. I’m still quite happy with our day and anything can still happen, so we keep fighting.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It has been a frustrating day. This morning I was struggling for confidence but together with the team we changed quite a lot and in the afternoon the feeling with the car was much better; it was quite a big step. Unfortunately, in the third stage of the loop we got a lot of mist on the screen and struggled to see anything. The main priority was to stay on the road, and we lost more than two minutes. I think it was quite unlucky but there’s still two days to go and we will keep pushing.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“We had good pace today, but we went from second after the first loop to sixth overall, which is quite disappointing. The rain was incredible, I was struggling to see 20 metres in front of the car, and we were just aquaplaning on the roads. I tried my best to not make any mistakes, but time flies at this rally and it is impossible to catch it back when you lose it. I will try to take fifth place and wait and see what happens to those ahead. When the conditions were mud, and no water, it was really enjoyable, but the risk of aquaplaning is a nightmare.”

Thierry Neuville

“I feel we were really unlucky today. We made a small mistake with a slightly too optimistic pace note and lost the rear of the car. We ran wide and caught a stone, but thankfully we made it back and the mechanics were able to fix the car. It was running very well this afternoon, but then the rain came and hit us very hard. I think myself; Adrien and Oliver were the most punished by it, and we lost a tremendous amount of time. The rally isn’t over – we’re aiming to catch two more positions, and then we will see what else is possible.”

Esapekka Lappi

“During a high-speed section, I braked a bit late, although I thought I was still able to slow the car down. I tried to turn in and make a cut on the corner, but that didn’t help, and we ended up with the rear of the car in the ditch on the exit. I thought we might have got away with it, but then the skirt lifted, and we rolled. It’s bad luck that how we landed caused damage to the roll cage, and now we’re not able to restart. It’s a shame for it to end this way, especially as we were demonstrating good speed, and we were satisfied with the preparation we did for Finland.”

 

Classification after Day One

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1:03:47.4 2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +16.3 3 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +26.7 4 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +41.3 5 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +1:04.9 6 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:24.0 7 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +2:29.0 8 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:30.7 9 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:36.2 10 R. Virves J. Viilo Skoda Fabia RS +3:08.7

Saturday

The second full day of stages in Finland will see the crews tackle eight stages over 125 kilometres. It will be a huge challenge and it will be interesting to see how things go for the championship challengers.

The fast rally section of the season is underway for sure with this year’s visit to the beautiful and quick roads in Finland. Elfyn and Scott increased their lead in the championship at the end of the last event in Estonia and will open the road again on Friday’s stages.

In terms of the stages, this year sees the crews face twenty stages over 316 kilometres. Thursday has shakedown in the morning with the first stage in the evening, then Friday sees stages two to ten totalling almost 128 kilometres. Then Saturday has stages eleven to eighteen totalling just over 126 kilometres and then Sunday has just the final two stages of 30 kilometres each giving a 60-kilometre total final day.

Let’s hear from the drivers!

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“Rally Finland is one of my favourite events on the calendar. It’s an amazing sensation to drive these Rally1 cars on those roads, and in terms of pure driving thrills, nothing else beats it during the season. You need to be able to find a good rhythm and a good feeling with the car to be competitive, but when everything’s working well, it can give you great confidence and enjoyment behind the wheel. I’m looking forward to it as always and hoping for some conditions that are more in our favour and enable us to be in the fight from the start of the weekend.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Rally Finland is like a second home rally for me. I moved to Finland when I started rallying and learned pretty much everything I know there, and I still have many friends in Jyväskylä. I have many great memories from the rally – I made my WRC debut there 10 years ago – and to finish second to Kalle last year was very special for me. I was very happy that he could win, but I hope I can go one better. It’s a very demanding rally: you have to be fully committed straight away, and you need full trust in your pacenotes and the car. But I have a good feeling and will try my best.”

Sami Pajari

“To win Rally Estonia was amazing, and a feeling that is still sinking in. There was not much time to celebrate or relax, as two days after the rally we were already testing for Rally Finland. Like Estonia, this is one of my favourite rallies, but it’s even more special to be able to compete at home in front of all my family and friends and a lot of fans cheering for us. The stages are beautiful, and I really enjoy driving them. Many will be expecting that we can win again; we can’t underestimate the competition, but we of course hope that we can make it happen. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Finland is one of the homes of rallying and one of the most enjoyable rallies to drive. It’s also one of the most challenging to win, especially against fast drivers from the north of Europe, and it’s a big honour to have been able to achieve that a couple of times in my career. Rally Estonia was not easy for us driving on those roads for the first time after five years away, but at Rally Finland we will have a higher target in mind as I’ve been there the last two years and been competitive, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Oliver Solberg

“Rally Finland is something very special. It’s a rally that every driver wants to win at some point in their career because it’s such a unique challenge. The way that the stages flow, with the speed and the crests and the jumps, feels amazing. I’ve had some good rallies there in the past in Rally2 cars, but I’m sure that my first Rally Finland driving for TGR-WRT as the home team, in such a great car in such a fast rally, will be my most special experience there yet. After a good, consistent rally in Estonia, it would be great if we can finish on the podium again.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“There are a lot of similarities between Estonia and Finland, but for me the biggest difference is the surface. Estonia is softer and more gravelly, whereas Finland has much higher grip, so sometimes it feels a bit like driving on tarmac. There are also more crests and blind corners. We learned a lot in Estonia and still have a little room for improvement, so we’ll be working to make the car even stronger ahead of Finland. Experience always helps, but many of the drivers know these roads extremely well and have the advantage of local knowledge. Our goal is the same as it was in Estonia: to fight for victory, be in the battle from the very first stage, stay out of trouble and have a perfect weekend.

Adrien Fourmaux

“Rally Finland is a unique event and one of the true classics of the WRC. It’s not just about driving flat out – you have to commit over the crests and jumps, making sure you land the car perfectly to carry speed into the next corner. The podium we achieved in Estonia gives us confidence heading into Finland. Last year we were fighting for second and third with Thierry until we both suffered punctures after hitting the same rock on Saturday, so I believe we can be strong this year as well. We have a good road position, completed a positive test in Finland, and we’ll be pushing hard. I’m confident we can fight for another podium.”

Esapekka Lappi

“It will be nice to be back at my home rally, even if I probably don’t have an advantage after missing the event last year. At rallies like Finland, experience counts for a lot because the regular competitors know from memory how much speed they can carry into every corner and crest. There are some new stages this year, so everyone starts with a slightly cleaner slate, which should help us to have better chances. After Estonia, the goal is simply to improve, have a stronger weekend and be closer to the front.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Finland is always one of the highlights of the season and one of my favourite rallies on the calendar. Driving these incredible Rally1 cars over the famous Finnish roads is something every driver dreams of. We’re looking to build on the positives from Estonia and continue making progress throughout the weekend.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m looking forward to the ultimate rally experience with the final year of Rally1 cars. I’ve only done Finland once before, which was 10 years ago, so it will certainly be a tough challenge to be on the limit from the word go. But we will certainly give it our best and build on our positive pace from Estonia.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“After seeing some good pace from us in Estonia, I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in Finland. Estonia was great preparation, it has a lot of similarities to Finland, and I think we will be able to be competitive next week.”

In WRC2 we have some crews from both Toyota and M-Sport competing.

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

“I’m looking forward to this Rally Finland. It’s always a special rally for me as my second home rally. I’ve been living in Jyväskylä for five years, so the atmosphere feels very familiar, and the roads are the most beautiful in the calendar. I had a bit of a disappointing rally in Estonia, so I really want to bounce back in Finland. Last year, it was a really good rally and a real turning point for me, so I hope to have the same good feeling and keep that strong pace through the whole weekend to fight against top drivers.”

Romet Jürgenson

“Finland is always one of the highlights of the season – it has a unique character of roads which are always really enjoyable to drive. There are a lot of new stages this year, some reversed stages, so there will be a lot of driving by pacenotes which should suit me well. We will try and improve on last year’s pace, and we definitely want to be a bit better than we were in Estonia, so we have a bit of time now to analyse and improve.”

Mille Johansson

“Rally Finland is one of the highlights of the WRC season and a rally every driver dreams of competing in. The roads are incredibly fast and demand total commitment from the very first stage.

“Our goal is to build our pace from the start, stay consistent, and make the most of every opportunity. The competition is extremely strong, but if we execute our plan and avoid mistakes, I believe we can fight for a strong result. I’m really looking forward to being back with the team again and to be back competing in Finland.”

Summary

Last year Kalle and Jonne took their first victory on home soil, but then retired at the end of last year from the championship and they were the first Finnish crew to take victory since Esapekka and Janne in 2017. Sami and Marko joined the elite group of Finnish crews to take a championship win. Could they do the same this weekend?

Meanwhile elsewhere at Toyota, the news broke this week that Seb’s former co-driver is returning to competition after it was announced that Vincent was not competing due to personal reasons.

It is hard to look past the crews at Toyota for one of them to take victory this weekend, but road position will be very important on Friday and therefore we could look at Adrien and Alex, or perhaps Esapekka and Enni taking victory. You’re probably wondering why I’m not including Thierry and Martijn in possible predicted winners. The Belgian has not really been comfortable on these fast stages over the years. They could take a podium though which would do something for their championship challenge.

At M-Sport Josh and Eoin are hoping to put what they learnt last year to good use and improve on last years seventh overall. Martins and Renars were on place further back in eighth and will take part again this year. What will we see from the Latvian crew? Jon and Shane take part this year for the first time at the top level and will be looking to complete the stages and gain experience for the future.

Let’s see what happens then!

The final day then saw the crews face only two stages, but they were a double run of a long stage over 24 kilometres. Josh and Eoin returned to the action following their mid-afternoon retirement with a damaged engine manifold on their Puma, the Motorsport Ireland backed crew would open the road throughout the two stages.

 

Into SS17 Kääriku 1 and it was a great start to the super Sunday standings as Oliver set the pace from rally leader Sami, whilst Adrien had a fantastic stage and increased the gap to his teammate Thierry from 1.9 seconds to 9.8 seconds. Elfyn was also quick, matching the third placed time set by Adrien. Josh who was opening the road had a small off at a junction, but at least was able to finish the stage.

 

Then it was onto the final stage, SS18 Kääriku 2 the Powerstage and Oliver was fastest this time and Thierry was second with Elfyn third. The final two positions in the powerstage were taken by Seb and Takamoto. Sami and Marko crossed the line with the sixth best time and had taken their first top class victory and what a superb drive from the young Finnish crew. They climbed atop their Yaris and celebrated their victory.

Let’s hear from the drivers then and take a look at the final finishing positions, plus the full points standings.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It’s simply an amazing feeling. ‘Arigato gozaimasu’ to Morizo-san and everyone at TGR-WRT for your support and for trusting in me. Thanks to all my supporters, family and friends who stood behind me even when we had tricky times. I also want to thank myself for not giving up and for continuing to push. We’ve had a good first part of the season and after being so many times on the podium, there was no doubt this result was coming, but it’s never easy at this level. This is one of my favourite rallies together with Finland, and I was just enjoying the driving and everything felt natural. Let’s now enjoy the moment before our home event at Rally Finland.”

Oliver Solberg

“This has been a very good weekend. It was very important for me to have a clean weekend and find a good rhythm and get back the feeling and the confidence. Thank you to the team who have supported through a tough time, and I’m very happy to bring back this great result and to be back on the podium. Sami and Marko have done an amazing job with incredible speed and really deserve this result. Today I was able to turn it up just a few percent and take the maximum points from Sunday, so I’m very happy.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been a lot of fun to be back here in Estonia this weekend driving these amazing roads and this fantastic event; it was definitely the right decision. Congratulations to Sami and Marko on their first win: they were clearly the fastest this weekend, so enjoy it! On my side I was not far from the target I set myself. After five years away from these high commitment roads, I was just missing a little bit, and maybe a few tenths on this final day. Still, we scored decent points for the championship, and we will go to Rally Finland with a higher target.”

Elfyn Evans

“We faced a tough start to the weekend with the stages being so dry and the cleaning effect so clear. In the end, I think we clawed back as many positions as we could and that sixth was realistically the most that was possible. Then, the final day was quite OK for us. I think the rain helped a bit to even things out and we had a pretty good run through both stages. So, we came away with some decent points and now we’ll look forward to Rally Finland.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This weekend did not go the way that we had hoped. We knew that Friday could be difficult with our road position, but our pace was not bad, and I think we were doing our job quite well until we had to stop, and this really affected the rest of our rally, because it was hard to do much from first on the road. It’s very frustrating but nothing is over, and we keep going and keep pushing. We tested some different things with the car for Rally Finland and I hope we have a good rally there.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“It feels very good to be back on the podium, it was a proper push today in my battle with Thierry, on the first run especially and then we had to ensure the result on the second run. Clearly the first run made the difference today because we had different setups, and it was optimised for the first pass and then a bit worse for the second, but we had a really big push on the first one. In the Power Stage, we knew that we had a decent gap; I should have done a little bit better, but overall, it has been a very positive rally, a good start for us on the fast rallies and I hope we can repeat this kind of performance in Finland.”

Thierry Neuville

“We started the rally with some issues, and we couldn’t really get the car working, so that meant we had to swap a lot of things for Saturday, which suddenly helped the performance to come back. We were continually improving throughout the day and closed on third by the end of Saturday, but I was just not quite in my rhythm this morning and we lost out to Adrien, who definitely deserved to take third place, hats off to him. It is still a good result for the team, considering where we came from, and second in the Power Stage was the maximum we could achieve from the weekend.”

Esapekka Lappi

“We had a challenging weekend in which we struggled with the pace. Generally, the car felt fine throughout the days, it was just difficult to understand why the speed and the times weren’t there versus the competition. On the other hand, we were able to gain more information and data on the setups and tyres, plus more mileage ahead of Finland, where we hope to be better.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Mārtiņš Sesks

“All in all, I think it was a weekend with positives. We did a good job on Friday with our limited experience, and looking ahead to Finland, Friday’s performance is a good positive – it has a lot of similarities with Finland. The rest of the rally was about managing; we did okay, but I wouldn’t say great. I’d say it’s good preparation for Finland, where the grip is higher and maybe we can be a bit more competitive there.”

Jon Armstrong

“It was a bit of a tricky start to the rally, we had the tyre debead on the first stage, over the jump, and then we struggled to make back the time we’d lost. But even without that we’d only have gained one position; the difference was the road position we lost going into Saturday, and we don’t know how much we could have gained with that.

“Overall, we’re happy with the pace. When you gauge it against Josh and Mārtiņš in the same car it’s looking quite good, so we’re happy with that, and we’re looking forward to Finland – it’s going to be a good experience in one of these cars.”

Josh McErlean

“It was a bit frustrating, obviously, what happened on Saturday, but our pace on Friday was nice. Sunday was a bit of a struggle starting first on the road, but we’ll keep learning, and we have plenty of positives to take into Finland. It’s a big reset for the team this week, and we’ll push on in Finland.”

Summary

What a drive then for Sami and Marko, with their sixth podium of the year and their first victory for them at the top level of this championship. Twelve stage wins gave them the lead they needed including the first nine stages. This was impressive as they didn’t take a stage win in this event last year. This result means that every Toyota driver has taken at least one win this year and has also brought the Finns into third in the championship.

 

For Oliver and Elliott this was well needed result to take second overall after a number of events which had seen them not get a result after little mistakes had big consequences. The second place points along with maximum points from super Sunday has given them a good boost in the standings.

 

Finally, Adrien and Alex scored third and has taken them onto equal points with their world champion teammates in the championship standings. It was a good result for the French duo after a few poor results, and this was a well-deserved result.

The next event is Rally Finland, also known as the 1000 Lakes rally and the Gravel Grand Prix to be held over the 30 July to 2 August.

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 9

1	E. Evans	177
2	T. Katsuta	152
3	S. Pajari	144
4	S. Ogier	139
5	O. Solberg	130
6	T. Neuville	111
7	A. Fourmaux	111
8	E. Lappi	25
9	H. Paddon	21
10	Y. Rossel	20

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 9

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	464
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	308
3	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	157
4	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	116

Onto the second day then and the crews had nine stages in front of them with a total of 150 kilometres to tackle. Takamoto would open the road courtesy of being the last placed top-class crew with his co-driver Aaron at the end of the Friday’s stages. Meanwhile, Elfyn and Scott would the third placed crew on the road and would be looking to regain the positions they lost on the penultimate stage. Overnight rally leaders Sami and Marko would be the last crew through courtesy of leading the rally and would look to open up their lead from their closest challengers from Hyundai.

 

Onto the action then with SS8 Peipsiääre 1 and Sami picked up where he and Marko left off setting the pace from Oliver and Adrien. Elfyn gained two positions, passing Esapekka for seventh overall. It was not a good start for Josh whose Puma suffered from some sort of technical problem and after pulling off the stage the engine would not restart. They lost almost ten minutes before completing the stage at normal pace.

 

Next up came SS9 Mustvee 1 and Sami was again fastest from yes, Oliver and Adrien. As mentioned Elfyn who was third on the road was showing good pace and although not at the front running pace, he was fifth fastest and passed Martins for sixth overall. The Welshman was helped a little with a puncture for the Latvian, but even without this Elfyn would have passed the M-Sport crew.

 

The action continued with SS10 Peipsiääre 2 and Oliver was fastest bringing his teammates run at the top of the stage winners to an end, whilst Adrien was third behind the Toyota crews. Sadly, we lost Josh before the stage as the Puma was retired with a problem with the exhaust manifold.

 

The final stage of the morning loop SS11 Mustvee 2 and it was two in a row from Oliver from Sami and Thierry. Adrien had a slow puncture for the last five kilometres and was only able to set the seventh best time, but at least he’d completed the stage and was still holding third overall. Elfyn was consolidating sixth overall whilst pulling away from Martins.

 

After the lunch time service came SS12 Kambja 1 and Sami restored himself to the top of the stage times winning the stage from Oliver and Adrien. Thierry was eyeing up his teammates podium position, now only 7.9 seconds behind but saw the gap grow a little.

 

The action continued with SS13 Otepää 1 and Sami once again set the pace from Oliver and Thierry. Adrien was still fourth fastest keeping the time loss to a minimum to Thierry. There was a small overshoot for Elfyn in the stage, but not enough to let Martins back too close.

 

Into SS14 Kambja 2 and Sami was just in the zone as he continued to set the pace this time from Thierry and Adrien. Oliver was only fourth in this one but was looking after his tyres and keeping them from overheating. Thierry’s pace took the gap to Adrien down to a little over six seconds.

 

We saw Hyundai take a stage win courtesy of Thierry in SS15 Otepää 2 as he set the pace from Sami and Oliver. The Belgians pace took him even closer to Adrien, the gap now less than two seconds.

 

The short SS16 Tartu Vald would not have any effect on the overall leaderboard and Oliver was fastest from Thierry and Adrien.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top ten.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sami Pajari

“It’s been another really good day. Again, I had a really great feeling with the car and we could start with two stage wins this morning. Then Oliver was having really good pace to bring the gap back down a bit. So, we needed to try and step it up for the afternoon and we managed to do that, adding another 10 seconds to our lead. It wasn’t easy with some different stage conditions and difficult tyre choices, but I’m super happy and now we just need to bring it home tomorrow. We don’t know exactly what the weather will be like – the forecast suggests it could be tricky – but I’m looking forward to it.”

Oliver Solberg

“I had a much better feeling this morning; something similar to what we had here last year in terms of the feeling with the car and the speed. Initially I was still lacking a bit of commitment, but then we made another step for the second pass, the balance felt good, and I could push and set some fastest times. This afternoon we were maybe a bit optimistic going with a full set of soft tyres and it didn’t pay off. I didn’t want to force it and just tried to keep driving my own race. Sami has done an incredible performance so hats off to him. There’s still a long day tomorrow which will be very important for the points, and we’ll try to take as many as we can.”

Sébastien Ogier

“We were able to have a good rhythm and good fun in the car again today. Unfortunately, the road was evolving and getting faster with every car, so it was difficult to fight with the guys ahead of us on the leaderboard. I always prefer to have a fight and to be fifth overall is not what we hoped for, but we’re still on for some important points and tomorrow there are quite a few more to catch. The weather is looking uncertain, and some rain could change things and reduce this cleaning effect, so we just have to keep trying our best until the end.”

Elfyn Evans

“We had a good start to the day. With a slightly better road position than yesterday, we had a good feeling behind the wheel and were able to gain back some positions, which was the main target. We then used the afternoon to experiment with a few different setups, which maybe didn’t go in the direction that we had hoped, but at least we have a solid base to fall back on for tomorrow. Even though there’s only one stage run twice, there’s a lot of points on offer and we’ll have to try to be on our best.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It was difficult today to be the first car on the road; it’s been so dry so far this weekend and the cleaning effect is really big. We were just focused on trying to find some positive things for the future and for the next rally in Finland, trying a lot of different things with the car setup in every single stage. Some things were positive, some things not so much, but at least we could gather that information. There’s still one more day to go and it probably won’t be easy, but I will keep trying my best, also for all the fans here in Estonia who have been showing such great support for me.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“Overall, I have enjoyed today a lot, the cars are really fantastic in these kinds of rallies. It’s been a solid day, it’s just a shame that we lost some time to Thierry throughout the day; it was small amounts, but still a little bit each stage. I feel ready for tomorrow, let’s see what the weather will be like, it is still a long day and maybe there will be some rain. It’s really great to have this fight with Thierry because it is good experience with the same cars. The stage tomorrow is very fast followed by some very narrow sections and then some tarmac, so we are going to have to be good for both passes.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a very enjoyable afternoon after struggling a bit this morning. We made some changes on the car, which gave me a lot more confidence overall. We were struggling in first-pass conditions but in the second-pass conditions with the ruts, we had good speed, and I was enjoying it. Adrien was pushing hard obviously, so we had to push hard as well, without taking too many risks and also looking after the tyres. It wasn’t that easy and simple, we were running five soft tyres today but, in the end, I am happy with my choice.”

Esapekka Lappi

“We didn’t have any problems today, but we also didn’t really improve, which is a shame. The team has done a lot of work to try to improve the pace but for some reason, even with big changes, the car just didn’t react. But we won’t give up, we still have some changes planned for tomorrow so we will see how it goes. [On SS12] we slid wide on a really fast left-hander which was tightening and went completely off the road, but at least we know that this exit could be used!”

 

Classification after Day Two

1 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:08:34.0 2 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +25.0 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +52.1 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +54.0 5 S. Ogier V. Landais Ford Puma Rally1 +1:32.8 6 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:02.9 7 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +2:16.3 8 E. Lappi E. Mälkönen Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:42.0 9 J. Armstrong S. Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +3:03.2 10 R. Virves J. Viilo Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 +7:07.2

Sunday

The final day sees the crews tackle only two stages, but they are the longest of the whole event at 24.39 kilometres. Let’s see who sets the pace over these two stages and takes the maximum Sunday points along with the powerstage points as well.