Sami Pajari turned the fastest round on the World Rally Championship calendar into a personal showcase on Friday, winning every one of Rally Estonia's seven opening stages to end the day 14.7 seconds clear at the front.
The Toyota driver looked untouchable on the high-speed Estonian gravel, a surface that rewards commitment over caution. He was measured about it afterwards, even as the timing screens told a different story.
"It feels really good. I'm really enjoying it and what a beautiful place to drive," Pajari said. "It is going well. I recommend this to anyone."
He was careful not to get ahead of himself with two days still to run. "Still, it's only the first day of this event so it's too soon to say anything more, but so far it's been great and we've enjoyed it a lot," he said. "I hope we can carry on with the same flow for the next two days."
Behind him, the picture was messier. Oliver Solberg held second in the sister Toyota but spent the afternoon fighting his car rather than the clock.
"It's been a difficult day, that's for sure. Very disappointing," Solberg said. "We need to try to get a better feeling for tomorrow and improve." Earlier he had been blunter about the root of it: "The feeling is not there. I try my best, but it is far from good enough. If I don't have the feeling, I don't have the feeling."
His team-mate Thierry Neuville had no such consolation. The Belgian ended Friday fourth and openly baffled by a car that had flattered him in testing. "I expected more. The car felt honestly brilliant in testing but today I couldn't find back any of that. I have massive understeer," Neuville said, describing a Hyundai that refused to bite into the corners. "We are just skating on top of the road, we are not getting the lateral grip to load the grip into the corner."
The day's cruellest blow fell on Takamoto Katsuta, who suffered a front-left tyre delamination on SS6, retired before the next test and picked up a 10-minute penalty. Sebastien Ogier, running fifth, felt for his fellow Toyota driver. "I feel for him, he deserved better than that," Ogier said.
Elfyn Evans, meanwhile, paid the price for his championship position, sweeping loose gravel off the racing line as the first car on the road and slipping to ninth, 49.8s adrift. Martins Sesks rounded out the top six.
It leaves Pajari with a healthy cushion but no room to relax. Estonia's condensed format packs the remaining stages into a demanding weekend, and a single mistake on these flat-out roads can erase a day's work in seconds.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/pajari-sweeps-rally-estonia-friday-to-seize-wrc-lead). Visit for full coverage.*