Is this rallying’s next fantastic Finn?

The conveyor belt of Finnish rally talent appears to have worked its magic again. If the 2026 World Rally Championship has outlined one thing, it’s that there’s a new star in town and his name is Sami Pajari. 

Now that two-time champion Kalle Rovanpera has called time on his phenomenal WRC career for now, in pursuit of circuit racing glory, Pajari finds himself as the full-time flag bearer for one of rallying’s great nations in the top tier.

At 24 years old that is both an honour, considering Finland’s obsession with rallying, and a potential burden given the weight of expectation to live up to the pantheon of greats this Nordic country has produced. 

But this cool and calm driver with a likeable sharp, dry wit is not only taking everything in his stride, he’s turning a lot of heads in the process. In only his second full season competing at WRC’s top table for Toyota, Pajari is a regular podium finisher and challenger for wins, delivering on the potential that has been nurtured over the past decade. 

In typical unflappable Pajari fashion, he says he is just focusing on “doing his thing”, and four consecutive podium finishes this year is proof that the approach is working. “Maybe the fans will expect you to do good, but so do I,” he says.

“Of course, Finland is a rally country. But in a way the fans have maybe been a little bit spoiled because in the last few decades, we have always had winning drivers. To fill up this empty spot in the hearts of Finnish rally fans is maybe not so easy. Even if you are taking four back-to-back podiums, maybe it’s not enough because you didn’t win those rallies. 

Pajari won the 2024 WRC2 crown driving a Printsport Toyota GR Yaris Rally2

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“There are people with big expectations and kind of putting some pressure on your shoulders. But I am not seeing it too much. I am there to do my thing and that’s it. I’m not reading the news every day about myself. 

“I don’t even know what they [the media] wrote about me because I don’t see any benefit. As long as I am happy with what I do myself, then I think that’s the most important thing. I try to focus on doing the things I do as well as I can.”

Leading the line for Finnish rallying in the WRC is a bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment for Pajari, whose first rally memories were forged as a four-year-old watching his father compete in local events, while marvelling at the sights and sounds of Toyota Starlets, Volvo 240s and Ford Escorts blasting through forests. 

Those summer evenings spent in the forests, coupled with a regular annual pilgrimage to Rally Finland, ignited a dream to one day reach the heights he’s currently enjoying in the WRC

“You could see the extra lights of the car from a distance, and you could hear the car noise getting closer and closer, and the excitement builds,” he recalls as he reflects on where his journey to the WRC began. “It was really, really cool, because when you are four years old or whatever, you don’t know if it is something scary or just interesting. That was what the word ‘rallying’ meant to me for a very long time.”

Those summer evenings spent in the forests, coupled with a regular annual pilgrimage to Rally Finland, ignited a dream to one day reach the heights he’s currently enjoying in the WRC. But Pajari admits that such a goal seemed “so distant, I didn’t really see it being possible”. While standing on a WRC podium may have seemed unreachable back then, now it’s becoming second nature after plenty of hard graft.

Pajari began to make headlines after piloting a Ford Fiesta Rally4 to the Junior WRC title in 2021. A step up to four-wheel-drive Rally2 machinery followed in 2022, culminating in the WRC2 title, driving a Printsport Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 in 2024. That success grabbed the attention of one of Pajari’s heroes: Jari-Matti Latvala, who as Toyota WRC boss offered him a prize one-off Rally1 drive that same season. That soon developed into a full-time factory seat in 2025. 

Pajari’s WRC2 performances impressed Latvala, who offered him a one-off Rally1 seat for his home event in 2024

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

The first half of Pajari’s rookie season yielded a mere 32 points, which was solid and steady. The second half witnessed an altogether different Pajari, who claimed 75 points, including a maiden outright WRC podium in Japan and a challenge for victory in the Saudi Arabian finale. As they say, the rest is history, so what triggered this transformation?

“I think, long story short, this was the approach and how I saw the instructions from the team side,” Pajari explains. “The plan was that I need to first gain the experience, and then I can try to push more after that.

“In the second half of last season, we started to have a more ambitious approach, and then we had some clearly solid pace and some better results on the last few rallies of last season. Then the plan was to simply carry on with the theme for this season. It seems like it’s starting to pay off.”

The upturn in results arrived shortly after Oliver Solberg stunned the WRC world by winning Rally Estonia in what was then a one-off drive for the Toyota factory Rally1 squad. At the time the result appeared to upstage Pajari – Toyota’s already chosen rising star – and heap pressure on him to perform. There were even suggestions that Solberg’s statement win in Estonia could put the brakes on Pajari’s own career, but he believes such talk was wide of the mark. 

“I think maybe not so much that people would expect,” Pajari replies about the effect of Solberg’s win. “Maybe it was just creating some hassle. Everyone was suddenly saying, is it me or Taka [Katsuta], or someone else will lose the seat because Oliver was so good? But for me, there was not really this kind of discussion. 

“We started to also try and get better results in the second half of the season. It happened to be exactly at that moment [when Solberg won] where my approach was going to change anyway.”

The Finn’s approach of building up “the pace and confidence and consistency” is paying off in 2026

Photo by: Toyota Racing

In the end, Toyota drafted Solberg into its Rally1 line-up for this year, effectively taking over the seat vacated by the circuit racing-bound Rovanpera, while Pajari retained his drive in Toyota’s non-manufacturer-points entry. This year Solberg has again attracted the limelight by taking another victory in Monte Carlo, while also challenging for wins in the Canary Islands and Portugal. 

But, Monte Carlo retirement aside, Pajari has emerged as the more consistent performer of the pair to date, outscoring the Swede on podiums and top-seven results. A maiden win seemed on the cards in Croatia had he not picked up a puncture, and he was again in the hunt for victory in Portugal in May. 

“The plan has been to try to build up the pace and confidence and consistency,” points out Pajari. “I’m not trying to take too much at once because it can lead to making mistakes. I think all these small things are coming together.

“Maybe the driving is also flowing more. And when it comes your way, it gets kind of more easy. You feel that you don’t need to force it too much” Sami Pajari

“Of course, when I feel that I can be quick, I can make good results. It’s good for the confidence, and when you have the confidence, you can make even better times.

“Maybe the driving is also flowing more. And when it comes your way, it gets kind of more easy. You feel that you don’t need to force it too much. Even if the team is giving you the support you know that you need to do good to stay there. So, of course, when you make a few nice rallies, you start to feel maybe more relaxed, and that maybe I can do it.”

Such has been his form in 2026 that it’s easy to build a case to suggest that Pajari has been the most impressive driver of the season to date. It certainly seems only a matter of time before the WRC’s new Flying Finn becomes a regular on the top step of the podium.

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the July 2026 issue and subscribe today. 

Celebrating maiden outright WRC podium in Japan last year with co-driver Marko Salminen

Photo by: Toyota Gazoo Racing