Rally Estonia is round nine of the 2026 season and is being held for the 16th time overall, having become a full WRC event in 2020. The event commandeers the roads of South Estonia and the city of Tartu, where the rally headquarters are located. Over 50 crews have entered for the rally, including 11 top-tier Rally1 cars.

Following Ott Tänak's retirement at the end of the 2025 season, there are no Estonians competing in the WRC1 category, but no fewer than eight are taking part in the second-tier WRC2 category at their home race, including last year's WRC2 winner and current sixth-placed driver in the standings, Robert Virves, Romet Jürgenson, Patrick Enok, Egon Kaur and even event organizer Urmo Aava. The WRC Promoter has put up a €50,000 prize fund for the three fastest young Estonian drivers in the Rally Estonia WRC2 classification.

Of the top drivers, Welshman Elfyn Evans, searching for his maiden title, is competing for the dominant Toyota, joined by Takamoto Katsuta (Japan) and veteran driver Sebastien Ogier (France) as well as Pajari. 2024 champion Thierry Neuville (Belgium), Adrien Fourmaux (France) and Esapekka Lappi (Finland) are in the running for Hyundai, and the only other team to race in the Rally1 class, M-Sport Ford, is represented by Irish drivers Jon Armstrong and Josh McErlean, and Martins Sesks from neighboring Latvia.

On Friday morning's shakedown, Toyota once again dominated by locking out the top five positions. World championship leader Evans and Pajari shared fastest time (both 1:55.6), followed by Katsuta (1:55.7), last year's surprise winner, Norwegian Oliver Solberg (1:55.8), and Sebastien Ogier (1:56.1). Neuville (Hyundai; 1:56.4) was 0.8 seconds off the pace, while his teammate Fourmaux was another 1.1 seconds behind.

Virves showed excellent pace in the shakedown with a time of 2:02.8 that none of his rivals could match. The closest was fellow Estonian and WRC debutant Vaher, whose best run produced a time of 2:04.3.

Sesks went off the road on his third run and heavily damaged his Ford. Misfortune also struck Estonian WRC3 competitor Priit Koik, who rolled his Renault onto its roof.

Friday

Pajari, 24, proved to be in superb form from the opening stage, where he beat his rivals by 2.4 seconds on the Raanitsa roads. The Finn's pace never faded throughout the day. He held a 4.1-second lead by the midday service and extended his advantage by another 10.6 seconds over the final four stages, heading into Saturday's action from first place.

Solberg was second at the end of Friday's stages, trailing the leader by 14.7 seconds. He is followed by Fourmaux, who lies 16.5 seconds behind Pajari. Behind the leading trio are Neuville (+24.0) and Ogier (+33.3). Sesks also showed strong pace, though a costly mistake on the shakedown earned the Latvian a 20-second time penalty, leaving him sixth overall (+44.7).

One of those jump-filled weekends #WRC | #DelfiRallyEstonia pic.twitter.com/w1pdCugjpX

— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) July 17, 2026

The day ended in disappointment for Katsuta as he suffered a puncture on Stage 6 and had to retire before the short Elva city stage. Sesks and Neuville also damaged their cars but, in this case, were able to continue.

Saturday's action begins at 9:56 a.m. Estonian time with the first pass through the Peipsiääre stage.

The remaining Rally Estonia 2026 stages are:

Saturday

SS8 Peipsiääre 1 (24.35 km) – 9:56 a.m.
SS9 Mustvee 1 (10.67 km) – 10:49 a.m.
SS10 Peipsiääre 2 (24.35 km) – 12:10 p.m.
SS11 Mustvee 2 (10.67 km) – 1:03 p.m.
SS12 Kambja 1 (23.74 km) – 3:48 p.m.
SS13 Otepää 1 (15.16 km) – 5:05 p.m.
SS14 Kambja 2 (23.74 km) – 5:58 p.m.
SS15 Otepää 2 (15.16 km) – 7:05 p.m.
SS16 Tartu Parish (1.76 km) – 8:35 p.m.

Sunday

SS17 Kääriku 1 (24.39 km) – 11:05 a.m.
SS18 Kääriku 2 (24.39 km) – 1:15 p.m.

WRC2 leader Virves: It's hard to make a difference, we're trying to avoid mistakes

Virves summed up some of the day's events for ERR.

"The first [stage] wasn't very good, I just couldn't get it right," Virves told ERR. "First I couldn't get the car to turn, then I couldn't get it to stop. We made a small change to the car and from the second [stage] onwards it was better."

"Fast roads, as always. These stages have been driven before and, as I predicted, the gaps are very small. It's hard to make a difference, the pace is high and we're just trying to avoid mistakes," Virves added.

Making his World Rally Championship debut, Vaher (Toyota; +7.4) heads into Saturday's stages in fourth place in WRC2 and also claimed his first stage win on the third stage. "The feeling has improved with every stage, everything has gone pretty well. We spun on the very first stage and got caught in our own dust, which cost us quite a bit of time. Where we are now is perfectly okay," said the 19-year-old Vaher.

Patrick Enok (Škoda; +13.3) is not far behind, continuing in seventh place and staying ahead of Romet Jürgenson (M-Sport Ford; +25.7). "I feel quite comfortable in the car, there haven't been many mistakes and my confidence is pretty high. I can drive at my own rhythm, and the times have been quite okay as well. Small mistakes cost time, but overall it's been more or less fine," Enok said.

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