Finnish driver Sami Pajari of Toyota caused a major surprise by winning the Rally Estonia on Sunday, while British driver Elfyn Evans (Toyota), leader of the World Rally Championship, strengthened his lead at the expense of Frenchman Sebastien Ogier.

Similar to Swedish driver Oliver Solberg, who surprisingly won in 2025, the rally saw an unexpected champion; Pajari, the 2024 WRC2 champion, secured his first victory in the top category of the world championship.

The Finnish driver won 12 of the 18 special stages, including the first nine, before managing his lead steadily to finish the rally 19 seconds ahead of Solberg.

With this victory, Pajari, 24, moved up to third place in the overall championship standings, establishing himself as a serious contender for the title.

This achievement crowned a remarkable season for the driver ranked fifth in the Toyota team order, after having previously stood on the podium five times in the first eight rounds, finishing as runner-up once and third four times.

Pajari said after celebrating his win on the roof of his Yaris car: 'It's an amazing feeling. I still haven't processed what happened. I'm very grateful to Toyota and to everyone who supported me, even in difficult times. I knew this win was coming soon, and now it's here. It's incredible.'

Despite having to open the road on Friday, Evans finished the rally in sixth place and extended his championship lead, benefiting from the retirement of Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta, increasing the gap between them to 25 points.

The Welshman said: 'Things went well today even though some sections were difficult. It was a complicated week because opening the road on the first day made it hard to recover positions later, but that's part of the game.'

For his part, Ogier was content to limit the damage in a rally he had not participated in for years, but he lost an additional point to Evans, who now leads him by 38 points in the overall standings.

The Frenchman said: 'I lacked a bit of experience here after five years away. It wasn't a bad week. We did what we could. We enjoyed it a lot, but we could have performed better. At least we leave with some points.'

Ogier (42), if he wants to continue his dream of winning a tenth world title, will need to achieve a better result in two weeks at Rally Finland, which features fast roads similar to Rally Estonia.

In a battle far from the title fight, French driver Adrien Fourmaux outperformed his Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville of Belgium to take third place and achieve his 11th podium in the World Rally Championship career.