Sami Pajari Extends Rally Estonia Lead on SS2

Sami Pajari continued his dominant start to Rally Estonia by winning SS2 Karaski and extending his overall lead to 2.9 seconds.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT driver set the fastest time on the 11.97-kilometre stage, beating Oliver Solberg by 0.3 seconds. The result followed Pajari’s fastest times on the shakedown and the opening Raanitsa stage.

“The feeling was maybe a bit better. A stage like this was tricky because it was mostly full-throttle driving on long straights. I just tried my best. The car is working perfectly,” Pajari said.

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Solberg remained Pajari’s closest rival in the standings but admitted he had not found the same set-up and confidence that helped him win Rally Estonia last year. He said the current problem was a combination of the car and his driving.

Sebastien Ogier lost further time and now sits fifth, 8.1 seconds behind the lead. Adrien Fourmaux dropped to third at 4.1 seconds, while Thierry Neuville moved into fourth after reducing his deficit to 6.9 seconds.

Esapekka Lappi continued to struggle despite benefiting from a favourable road position. The Hyundai driver was only 10th fastest on SS2 and lost 6.2 seconds to Pajari.

“I’m a bit puzzled, I don’t understand. Maybe the problem is the driver because the others are so much faster. I just can’t match them with this car. The moment I try to go any faster, I end up off the road,” Lappi said.

Pajari leads after two of the rally’s 18 stages, with five more tests remaining on Friday. The competition continues on SS3 Kanepi before the afternoon repeats of Raanitsa, Karaski and Kanepi.