Julien Ingrassia had one hour to accept Sebastien Ogier's emergency call-up for Secto Rally Finland, ending almost 2,000 days out of a WRC seat. Kalle Rovanpera also returned to the Harju stage in a classic Corolla.
Toyota's five drivers hold the top five in the WRC standings heading into their home round, with Estonia winner Sami Pajari fresh off a maiden victory — but Hyundai fancies an upset on the championship's fastest gravel.
Rally Estonia's compressed 50-hour format won broad support from World Rally Championship crews, who kept the full 300km of stages but spent far less time on the road. Some now want it to go further.
Sami Pajari led every day of Rally Estonia to claim his first WRC win, beating Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg by 19.5s and moving to third in the championship.
Sami Pajari won every one of Rally Estonia's seven Friday stages to build a 14.7-second lead, with Oliver Solberg and Adrien Fourmaux chasing and Thierry Neuville left baffled by his Hyundai.
Elfyn Evans leads an all-Toyota top five into round nine of the WRC at Rally Estonia, where the series debuts a compressed 50-hour format designed to cut team costs on the Baltic's high-speed gravel.
With only Toyota so far building a 2027 car and Rally2-based machinery set to join the grid, Sebastien Ogier says the WRC must reintroduce qualifying to keep gravel starting order fair, a view Elfyn Evans and others partly share.
Every one of the WRC championship's top five places belongs to Toyota as the series arrives at fast, jump-strewn Rally Estonia — leaving Hyundai's Thierry Neuville, Adrien Fourmaux and Esapekka Lappi needing a rapid fightback.
Lancia has drafted WRC drivers Martins Sesks and Teemu Suninen to help develop its Ypsilon Rally2 on gravel, as the Stellantis marque targets its first loose-surface breakthrough at Rally Finland.
Ott Tanak has returned to Toyota as a development driver for the 2027 WRC rules, but the 2019 world champion insists there is 'no plan' for a competitive comeback.
Sebastien Ogier completed a clean sweep at the Acropolis Rally, win, Super Sunday and Power Stage, for the 69th victory of his career after a late puncture ended Thierry Neuville's fight. Takamoto Katsuta's third place cut Elfyn Evans's championship lead to seven points.
Rally US has completed its FIA candidate event across Tennessee and Kentucky, the most concrete step yet toward the World Rally Championship's first US round since 1988 - potentially as soon as 2027.
