Sami Pajari and co-driver Marko Salminen stormed to a dramatic home victory at Secto Rally Finland after Sebastien Ogier crashed out, sealing a stunning back-to-back World Rally Championship double just two weeks after maiden win.
Pajari kept his composure through a rally that was defined by changeable weather and a remarkable number of high-profile incidents to win by 26.7 seconds over Toyota teammate Oliver Solberg, while championship leader Elfyn Evans salvaged third after rolling his car and returning to the road with help from spectators.
The win etched the 24-year-old deeper into Finnish rallying history, becoming the 14th different Finn to win at home and the 200th Finnish driver to deliver WRC victory.
“This feels simply amazing,” Pajari grinned. “It was a big thing to take the win in Estonia but home win is always something special. Winning at home has not always been easy for Finns in recent years, but after one really crazy rally we made it. Big thanks first of all to the team but also the fans for all the support.”
Rally Finland Highlights: As it happened
In what would become one of the most incident-packed editions of Rally Finland in the sport’s history, six of the eleven Rally1 crews retired from or suffered significant accidents across the stages.
Thursday evening got the event underway with the traditional Harju super special stage where Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux dominated, before Sébastien Ogier took over on Friday morning and built a 5.3-second buffer over Fourmaux.
Esapekka Lappi was the first driver to exit the rally after crashing on stage four and sustaining rollcage damage severe enough that a restart was deemed impossible.
Friday afternoon transformed the rally entirely as torrential rain swept through the stages with almost no warning, and the consequence was a brutally uneven playing field dictated entirely by the order in which crews tackled the stages.
Fourmaux found himself among those most severely punished by the conditions, plunging from second down to sixth, while Elfyn Evans benefitted from a more favourable road position, climbing to second.
Ogier’s lead over Evans heading into Saturday stood at 11.6s, with Sami Pajari a further 10.4s in third.
Sebastien Ogier crashes, Elfyn Evans rolls
Saturday morning continued to test the drivers, though the conditions were more consistent, and it was during this phase that Evans made the critical error that temporarily reshaped the event’s narrative.
Approaching the end of stage 14, Evans ran wide on a corner and rolled his GR Yaris which cost him two minutes as spectators helped recover the car, dropping from second to fifth.
With Evans temporarily neutralised, Ogier moved further clear and appeared to have the 2026 Rally Finland firmly under his control entering Saturday afternoon, with Pajari trailing by 22.7s.
However, the rally took a dramatic turn on stage 17 when Ogier’s GR Yaris was pitched into a series of violent high-speed rolls, prompting officials to halt the running as marshals and medical teams attended to the scene.
Remarkably, both Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia were able to exit the stricken car unaided, though the pair were subsequently transported to hospital for precautionary overnight checks.
Sami Pajari cruises to home victory
Ogier’s retirement ensured Sami Pajari takes Rally Finland home win after cycling into the lead with an advantage of 46.4 seconds over his Toyota teammate Oliver Solberg heading into Sunday.
The final leg comprised two passes through the 30.02-kilometre Himos-Jämsä test, the longest stage of the rally and always one of the most spectacular sections of the Finnish calendar.
Pajari and Salminen approached it with clear-eyed pragmatism, opting to manage their pace and protect their lead rather than chasing additional bonus points from the Super Sunday classification or the Power Stage.
The young Finn finished fifth on the Power Stage, gave up nothing by way of recklessness, and ultimately crossed the finish line with a 26.7-second buffer over Oliver Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson.
Elfyn Evans mounted an impressive recovery to finish third, followed by the Hyundai duo of Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Neuville was helped by a late misfortune that befell Takamoto Katsuta, who had been running fifth before the final stage. Katsuta went wide to avoid a rock on the inside of a corner and struck a tree — then struck another on the following corner — losing 1m31.8s in the process and sliding to sixth overall.
Seventh went to Josh McErlean who was the only M-Sport driver to complete the entire event without retiring from a leg.
Teammate Jon Armstrong found his car beached in a ditch as early as stage three and required assistance to rejoin, while Mārtiņš Sesks suffered a high-speed roll on stage 14.
