Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen claimed an emotional home victory at Secto Rally Finland on Sunday, completing a remarkable back-to-back FIA World Rally Championship double just two weeks after their breakthrough success in Estonia.
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.
The WRC now takes a short break before returning for round 11 at WRC ueno Rally del Paraguay from 27 – 30 August.
Rally Classification:
1. S Pajari / M Salminen FIN Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:27:58.0
2. O Solberg / E Edmondson SWE Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +26.7s
3. E Evans / S Martin GBR Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1m 19.5s
4. A Fourmaux / A Coria FRA Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1m 35.9s
5. T Neuville / M Wydaeghe BEL Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +3m 52.5s
6. T Katsuta / A Johnston JPN Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +4m 18.2s
The World Rally Championship (WRC) is the FIA’s premium rally series. It showcases high-performance cars and the world’s best drivers competing in dramatic surroundings, ranging from Sweden’s freezing winter to Kenya’s heat and rocky tracks. Participants battle for drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles at 14 rallies. More information can be found at www.wrc.com.
