The 2026 World Rally Championship has already crowned a new winner in Takamoto Katsuta, and now Sami Pajari has his sights set on joining that club at this weekend’s Rally Islas Canarias.
Following Katsuta’s maiden triumph in Safari Rally Kenya in March, which he followed up with another in Croatia, only four of the current crop of Rally1 drivers are yet to stand on the top step of a WRC podium.
And it appears Toyota’s Pajari is the most likely to become the next driver to claim a maiden WRC win.
The 24-year-old has threatened to win a rally twice; in last year’s Saudi Arabia season finale he was leading when a puncture struck, and again a tyre deflation in Croatia two weeks ago derailed what looked to be a likely victory.
In Croatia, Pajari emerged in the lead after stage three and was seemingly in control of the rally for 12 stages until he was forced to change a wheel. Ultimately, a likely third position was elevated into a career-best second after Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville’s final stage slip up.
After coming the closest yet to a maiden win, Pajari says his hunger for victory has only intensified, and he feels the Canary Islands’ smooth asphalt roads will suit him even better.
Pajari takes a tumble off the podium in Croatia
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“To be on the podium is always nice and I have three third positions, and now a second for the first time, so of course I need to be happy about that,” said Pajari. “At the same time though, there is still some hunger left as we were holding the lead for such a long time and then it was taken away. So, there is more hunger for the coming rallies.
“I’m really looking forward to Rally Islas Canarias: it’s one of my favourite rallies. The character is totally different to Croatia, which is somewhere I would not have expected to do so well. Still, we managed to lead a lot of the rally and finish second there.
“On paper, I think the Canaries can suit us even better. I enjoyed the rally already last year: we had some good pace and, more generally, I think my performance on asphalt has been stronger when the roads are cleaner, even in Croatia. We have a lot of positives to take forward into the Canaries and I hope we can have an even better rally.”
For a long time, it was thought that Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux was destined to become the next new driver to grace the winners’ circle. The Frenchman has clearly demonstrated the ability to challenge for victories, and like Pajari, last year’s season finale in Saudi Arabia was perhaps his best shot at a victory to date. However, a penalty for a time check-in mix up quashed such hopes.
However, given Hyundai’s struggles to match Toyota this year, it seems Fourmuax has now fallen behind Pajari in the pecking order when it comes to challenging for victories. Hyundai has struggled particularly in low-grip surfaces with this weekend’s smooth asphalt roads in the Canary Islands highlighting a weakness with the i20 N last year.
While progress has been made to improve the car on asphalt, Fourmaux admits that he will need to be perfect to extract the maximum pace.
Which position have you not finished in yet, Adrien?
Photo by: Hyundai
“Rally Islas Canarias will be very different from the tarmac rallies we have had so far this year. We don’t expect any dirt on the road – it will be very clean, very high grip – and that means it will demand a big push in terms of both car and driver performance,” said Fourmaux.
“Every second will be difficult to optimise, and the pacenotes will be a major challenge too; we really need to be perfect to get the maximum out of the car.
“The weather is another factor that can make this rally quite tricky. Being close to the sea can offer nice weather conditions, but up in the mountains the rain can roll in and bring heavy fog with it. That can make it feel like a completely different rally depending on whether you are at sea level or in the mountains. Our focus will be on optimising everything to deliver the best possible result.”
M-Sport-Ford’s duo of Jon Armstrong and Josh McErlean are the other drivers chasing a maiden win. Judging by recent form, Rally1 rookie Armstrong is ahead compared to his more experienced team-mate on asphalt, highlighted by 10 top-three stage times in Croatia.
“I’m really looking forward to the Canaries – I’ve been there a few times with ERC and it’s always a big challenge,” said Armstrong. “The roads are a lot more like a racetrack, and the traffic during recce can be quite hectic with all the tourism in the area, so just keeping everything in line is a challenge in itself.
Jon Armstrong is also searching for a maiden WRC win
Photo by: M-Sport
“Managing tyre and brake temperatures will be crucial. We had a good Sunday session in Croatia where we tried some things with the set-up, and we’re looking forward to putting that into practice here – hopefully we can keep fighting up with the Hyundais and fight for a top-five result.”
McErlean added: “We’ve made some solid steps recently, and the focus is on continuing that progress – getting comfortable early and putting together a clean, consistent weekend.”
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