Saturday’s leg of Delfi Rally Estonia featured nine special stages across the fast gravel roads of Peipsiääre, Mustvee, Kambja, Otepää and Tartu Vald. Sami Pajari started the day leading the rally with a total time of 1:02:41.7, holding a 16.3-second advantage over Oliver Solberg, while Adrien Fourmaux sat a further 8.0 seconds adrift in third.
The morning loop saw little change at the front, although there was drama elsewhere. Josh McErlean came to a halt 13.4 kilometres into SS8 with a mechanical issue, eventually restarting after a delay of around ten minutes. The Irishman continued through the morning before retiring for the day on SS10 with a damaged exhaust manifold. Further ahead, Fourmaux suffered a slow puncture on SS11 but managed to retain third place, despite Thierry Neuville reducing the gap to just 5.6 seconds.
By the end of the morning loop, Pajari remained firmly in control with an overall time of 1:26:21.6. Solberg had chipped away slightly at the lead, reducing the deficit to 14.1 seconds, while Fourmaux completed the provisional podium, now 39.0 seconds behind the rally leader.
The afternoon loop proved relatively trouble-free for the leading crews. The only notable incident came on SS13, where Elfyn Evans overshot a junction, costing a handful of seconds but leaving his sixth-place position unaffected.
Pajari ended Saturday with one hand on a maiden WRC victory, extending his lead to 25.0 seconds over Solberg with a total time of 2:08:34.0. Fourmaux held onto third, 52.1 seconds off the lead, although Neuville remained firmly within striking distance, ending the day just 1.9 seconds behind his Hyundai team-mate in fourth.
In WRC2, Robert Virves remained in control throughout Saturday, maintaining his advantage at the head of the category. Behind him, however, the battle for second was one of the closest contests of the day, with Teemu Suninen and Roope Korhonen trading positions across several stages. Korhonen ultimately finished the leg in second, but with only 0.8 seconds separating the two Finns, the fight for the remaining podium places remained wide open heading into Sunday’s final stages.
