Sami Pajari closed in on an impressive maiden World Rally Championship victory after delivering a fast gravel masterclass at Rally Estonia.
The Toyota driver will head into Sunday’s final two stages with a 25.0s lead over Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg after producing yet another assured drive across a mammoth Saturday featuring nine stages.
Pajari started the day with a 14.7s advantage over Solberg as his dominance was showcased by winning all seven of Friday’s stages. That advantage grew to 17.6s after extending his stage-winning streak to nine before Solberg halted his run.
Solberg was clearly much happier with the feeling behind the wheel of his GR Yaris compared to Friday and managed to win stages 10 and 11 to reduce Pajari’s lead to 14.1s.
However, in the afternoon, normal service resumed as Pajari responded by setting fastest times on the first three stages of the loop to effectively pull clear of Solberg. Pajari ended the day having won 12 of the 16 stages to date.
“It’s not easy, it’s never meant to be easy, but still we are somehow quite comfortable with the lead, but it’s anyway quite many kilometres to do as well tomorrow, so it’s not too straightforward,” said Pajari.
“But there was, on the road section, one fan with a really cool poster, which said: ‘Sami, don’t listen to Marko [Pajari’s co-driver], send it.’ So, I’m trying to follow that.”
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Solberg revealed that his feeling in his GR Yaris was almost on a par with what he experienced on his way to a stunning first WRC victory in Estonia last year. But the Monte Carlo winner admitted he was too careful in places and, on some occasions, opted for a safer drive to avoid any tyre trouble.
“The morning was definitely much more positive than yesterday. At least the feeling is getting better and better. The commitment and risk taking is still not there, which you need to beat Sami, who is doing a great job out there! Maybe an optimistic tyre choice this afternoon, which made it difficult to go flat out,” said Solberg.
The fight for third drew plenty of attention as Hyundai team-mates Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville went head-to-head. Fourmaux held a 7.5s advantage at the start of the day but that was whittled down to 1.9s ahead of the final stage of the day.
A charging Neuville did the most damage in stage 15 when he took 4.2s out of Fourmaux with an effort that was enough to claim his and Hyundai’s first stage win of the rally. The pair couldn’t be split on the final super special stage of the day with Fourmaux holding the final podium spot heading into Sunday.
“I’m quite happy with the day. We had a lot of tyre wear this afternoon. I tried my best and the stages were very enjoyable. I still want to enjoy the two big stages tomorrow,” said Fourmaux.
“I’m happy with my afternoon. Happy with my tyre call and how I managed it,” added Neuville. “Adrien was super fast, let’s have some fun together tomorrow and see who ends up on top.”
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
As road conditions continued to improve after every passing car, reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier found himself unable to take the fight to Neuville. Ogier ultimately ended the day in distant fifth [+1m32.8s].
“It’s been a bit of a long day, for sure. It’s been just normal, let’s say. Nothing special, but it would have been difficult to anyway catch position today, so I think we just did what we had to do, and that means just keep the position, and tomorrow for sure we’ll have to try a bit harder,” said Ogier.
Disadvantaged by opening the road on Friday, championship leader Elfyn Evans headed to the service park having made the most ground on Saturday. The Welshman climbed from ninth to sixth, which could prove to be extremely valuable for his title bid.
Evans moved ahead of Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi and M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean to seventh after stage eight. Evans’ recovery was aided by an exhaust manifold issue that forced McErlean to retire his Ford Puma.
McErlean’s team-mate Martins Sesks also hit trouble when he suffered a front right puncture in stage nine that elevated Evans to sixth.
Sesks completed the afternoon loop in seventh comfortably ahead of a frustrated Lappi, who was unable to replicate the speed produced by his Hyundai team-mates Neuville and Fourmaux.
The top 10 was completed by M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong and Estonian WRC2 pacesetter Robert Virves, who will take a 10.1s class lead over Finland’s Roope Korhonen.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta was reduced to effectively a test session due to his road position as he rejoined the rally after a double puncture cut short his Friday leg.
Two passes of the 24.39km Kaariku will conclude the rally on Sunday.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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