The Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 crew carried a 46.4sec advantage into Sunday’s two passes of the 30.02km Himos–Jämsä test and resisted any temptation to chase bonus points, instead managing their pace to secure victory by 26.7sec over Oliver Solberg.
Pajari finished fifth on the rally-ending Wolf Power Stage before being greeted at the stop line by Finnish rallying legend Ari Vatanen.
“I don’t know what to say,” Pajari admitted. “It was a big thing to take the win in Estonia, but a home win is always something special.
“It has not always been too easy for the Finns, but after one really crazy rally, we made it. A big thanks, first of all, to the team, but also to all the fans for all the support. It’s simply amazing. Kiitos paljon - thank you, everyone!”
The result carried major historical significance. Pajari delivered the 200th WRC victory for a Finnish driver, having secured the country’s 199th with his maiden triumph in Estonia, and became the 14th different Finn to win Rally Finland during the WRC era.
It was also the first time a Finnish driver had won consecutive WRC rounds since Kalle Rovanperä triumphed in Poland and Latvia in 2024.
Following Rovanperä’s 2025 success, Finland now has home winners in consecutive editions of its WRC round for the first time since Jari-Matti Latvala’s victories in 2014 and 2015. Pajari and Rovanperä are the first two different Finns to achieve the feat in successive years since Mikko Hirvonen and Latvala in 2009 and 2010.
Toyota completed a commanding one-two-three result and recorded its eighth Rally Finland victory from the past nine editions. Counting the event’s WRC-era results, its 11th win moved the Japanese marque one ahead of Ford as the most successful manufacturer on the championship’s Finnish round.
Pajari had inherited the lead on Saturday afternoon when long-time pacesetter Sébastien Ogier crashed heavily on Västilä. Ogier and stand-in co-driver Julien Ingrassia exited their Toyota unaided and underwent precautionary hospital examinations, the results of which were positive.
Solberg underlined his speed by winning Sunday’s opening pass and topping the Super Sunday classification, despite suffering severe back pain following a heavy landing. The Swede received pain relief before the final test and still matched Elfyn Evans’ stage time to within thousandths of a second.
His runner-up result completed a second successive Toyota one-two led by Pajari, following the same finishing order in Estonia.
Evans secured an unlikely third place after his own dramatic Saturday roll. Spectators returned his heavily damaged GR Yaris Rally1 to the road before Toyota’s mechanics completed extensive repairs during midday service.
The championship leader rewarded their efforts by winning Sunday’s Wolf Power Stage, edging Solberg by just 0.025sec, and finished the rally 1min 19.5sec behind Pajari.
“It was a surreal set of circumstances,” Evans reflected. “More than anything, we owe thanks to the guys who fixed the car yesterday lunchtime. We always know we can depend on those guys.”
His recovery increased his championship lead to 30 points over Pajari, with Takamoto Katsuta third in the standings and Solberg fourth.
Adrien Fourmaux finished fourth after Friday’s torrential rain had wrecked his early victory challenge. The Hyundai driver pushed throughout Sunday but ended 16.4sec behind Evans.
Thierry Neuville climbed to fifth when Katsuta went off on the Wolf Power Stage. The Japanese driver reached the finish with heavy front-end damage after hitting a tree and slipped to sixth, while Josh McErlean his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 home in seventh.
Jari-Matti Latvala completed the overall top eight and won the RC2 class. Robert Virves secured his fourth WRC2 victory from four starts this season after overnight leader Teemu Suninen received a 30sec penalty.
PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY FINLAND
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h27m58.0s
2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +26.7s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m19.5s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m35.9s
5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m52.5s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +4m18.2s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m32.7s
8 Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hänninen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +8m25.5s
9 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +8m46.9s
10 Teemu Suninen/Janni Hussi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +9m03.0s ...
(Results as of 14:30 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 10:
1 Elfyn Evans 201 points
2 Sami Pajari 171
3 Takamoto Katsuta 160
4 Oliver Solberg 156
5 Sébastien Ogier 139
6 Adrien Fourmaux 129
7 Thierry Neuville 125
8 Esapekka Lappi 25
9 Hayden Paddon 21
10 Josh McErlean 21 ...
2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 10:
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 514 points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 340
3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 184
4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 130
What's next?
The Rally del Paraguay (August 27-30) joined the WRC in 2025 with demanding stages around Encarnación, close to border with Argentina. The fast roads feature a red clay surface providing changeable grip levels.
