Toyota youngster Sami Pajari secures an emotional home victory in Finland

On the final day, the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 team went into the two runs of the 30.02 km Himos-Jämsä special stage with a lead of 46.4 seconds. Pajari resisted the temptation to go in pursuit of bonus points. Instead, Pajari adjusted his pace and secured victory with a 26.7-second lead over his team-mate Oliver Solberg.

On the Wolf Power Stage, held to round off the rally, Pajari finished fifth before being greeted at the finish line by Finnish rally legend Ari Vatanen.

Sami Pajari auf dem Weg zum emotionalen Heimsieg

Foto: Red Bull

“I don’t even know what to say,” Pajari said at first. “Winning in Estonia was a big deal, but a home victory is always something very special.”

“After a truly crazy rally, we’ve done it. A huge thank you, above all, to the team, but also to all the fans for their fantastic support. It’s just incredible. Kiitos paljon – thank you very much to everyone!”

Mein lieber Schwede: Oliver Solberg in Finnland auf Platz zwei

Foto: Red Bull

With this emotional victory at the “Finnish Grand Prix”, Pajari now sits in second place in the current World Championship standings behind Elfyn Evans.

The 24-year-old blond-haired driver also secured the 200th World Championship race victory for a Finn. With this triumph, he becomes the 14th Finn to win his home rally in the modern World Rally Championship era.

With Elfyn Evans finishing third, Toyota secured a commanding one-two-three finish, celebrating its eighth victory at Rally Finland in the last nine editions.

Toyota-Pilot Elfyn Evans verteidigt in Finnland die WM-Führung

Foto: Red Bull

Counting results from the modern World Rally Championship era, the Japanese marque is now one victory ahead of Ford with its eleventh triumph, making it the most successful manufacturer at Rally Finland.

Pajari had taken the lead on Saturday afternoon when Sébastien Ogier, who had been leading for much of the rally, suffered a serious crash on the Västilä special stage (SS17). Fortunately, Ogier and his stand-in co-driver Julien Ingrassia were able to get out of their Toyota unaided. Precautionary examinations at hospital revealed no injuries.

Monte Carlo Rally winner Solberg underlined his immense pace by winning Sunday’s opening special stage. The Swede led the ‘Super Sunday’ standings, even though he was suffering from severe back pain following a hard landing. Solberg was given painkillers before the final special stage and was still able to set a time almost identical to Evans’.

Adrien Fourmaux als bester Hyundai-Flieger auf Rang vier

Foto: Red Bull

With his second place, he repeated the same finish as at the Rally Estonia, when Pajari and Solberg had previously occupied the top two spots.

The Welshman Evans secured an unexpected third place following his dramatic roll-over on Saturday. Spectators had pushed his heavily damaged GR Yaris Rally1 back onto the track before the Toyota mechanics restored the car to full racing condition during the midday service following extensive repairs.

The championship leader set the fastest time on the Wolf Power Stage, the tenth stage of the World Championship, finishing just 0.025 seconds ahead of Solberg. Evans finished the rally 1 minute 19.5 seconds behind the winner.

Nachdenklich: Thierry Neuville auf Platz fünf

Foto: Red Bull

“It was a surreal situation,” said Evans. “Above all, we owe a debt of gratitude to our technicians, who repaired the car yesterday at lunchtime. We always know we can rely on these lads.”

Thanks to his successful comeback, Evans extended his lead in the World Championship standings to 30 points ahead of Pajari. His team-mates Takamoto Katsuta and Oliver Solberg are third and fourth in the overall standings.

Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux finished fourth in the high-speed rally on gravel terrain, after torrential rain on Friday had dashed his initial hopes of victory.

The Frenchman really put his foot down on the final day, but ultimately crossed the line 16.4 seconds behind Evans.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) moved up to fifth place when Takamoto Katsuta went off the road in his Toyota on the Wolf Power Stage. The Japanese driver reached the finish line with severe damage to the front of his car after crashing into a tree, causing him to slip back to sixth place.

Pressiert`s, passiert`s: Takumoto Katsuta begutachtet Kaltverformungen

Foto: Red Bull

The Irishman Josh McErlean managed to bring his M-Sport Ford Puma home in seventh place.

Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala rounded off the top eight in the overall standings and won the RC2 class. Robert Virves (Škoda) secured his fourth WRC2 victory from four starts so far this season. The Estonian benefited from a 30-second penalty imposed on Teemu Suninen (Toyota).

The World Rally Championship now takes a short summer break before resuming from 27 to 30 August with the eleventh round, the Rally del Paraguay, in South America.