Sami Pajari produced a commanding display on Estonia’s high-speed gravel stages to complete Friday’s opening leg of Delfi Rally Estonia with a lead of 14.7 seconds.
Chasing his maiden victory in the FIA World Rally Championship, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver set the fastest time on all seven of the day’s stages, remaining unbeaten from the morning’s opening test through to the evening super special in Elva.
Pajari won the opening three stages to reach the Tyre Fitting Zone in Tehvandi with a 4.1-second advantage. The Finn then extended his lead with three further victories on gravel before completing a clean sweep of the day by topping the times on Elva’s asphalt-based super special.
He becomes the first driver since Kalle Rovanperä at Rally Islas Canarias in 2025 to win every stage of a WRC opening leg.
“Simply I just do all I can,” Pajari said. “I didn’t have any moments, and it seems under control. I’m pushing all I can. I’m just trying to enjoy it. This was proper action, a super-nice day. I will do the best I can and it’s still a super-long rally.”
Pajari’s only notable concern came on SS5, when he reported making a small mistake at one corner. His pace remained unaffected, however, as he continued to strengthen his position at the front.
Oliver Solberg completed the day in second place, 1.8 seconds ahead of Adrien Fourmaux. The Toyota driver, who claimed his breakthrough WRC victory in Estonia 12 months ago, struggled to find confidence in the car and described his Friday as difficult and disappointing.
Fourmaux delivered a consistent opening leg for Hyundai. After running wide following a jump on SS2 and collecting grass in the front of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1, the Frenchman recorded a series of top-three stage times to finish 7.5 seconds ahead of team-mate Thierry Neuville.
Neuville reported difficulties with the balance of his car throughout the day but remained fourth overnight, 33.3 seconds ahead of Sébastien Ogier. The eight-time world champion is contesting Rally Estonia for the first time since 2021.
Takamoto Katsuta had been running sixth before suffering front-left tyre damage on SS6, costing the Japanese driver almost one minute. He subsequently retired before SS7 and will restart on Saturday, when he is expected to run first on the road during the rally’s longest leg.
Mārtiņš Sesks recovered from his Shakedown incident and a 20-second penalty for leaving service two minutes late to finish Friday in sixth place aboard his Ford Puma Rally1.
Esapekka Lappi ended his first WRC appearance since Safari Rally Kenya in March in seventh. Set-up changes helped the Finn climb from ninth place on SS6, where he moved ahead of both Josh McErlean and Elfyn Evans.
McErlean completed the day just 0.1 seconds behind Lappi in eighth place. Evans, who opened the road as championship leader, briefly moved back ahead of Lappi on SS5 but was unable to match his rival’s pace on the following test and finished ninth.
Jon Armstrong rounded out the top 10 after losing approximately 30 seconds with front-left tyre damage following a heavy landing over a jump on SS1.
Delfi Rally Estonia resumes on Saturday with the Peipsiääre stage from 09:56 local time. The test is the first of nine stages scheduled across the rally’s longest leg, covering 149.60 competitive kilometres.
