Emerging World Rally Championship talent Sami Pajari has expressed that achieving his first stage victory during his top-tier debut at Rally Finland has exceeded his expectations for the weekend.
Toyota has given the WRC2 contender a chance to demonstrate his abilities by driving a fifth GR Yaris at the team’s home event.
Pajari’s aspirations took a hit during Friday’s opening stage [Laukaa] when he experienced a half spin before understeering into a ditch amidst challenging conditions, causing substantial damage to the rear wing of his GR Yaris.
Despite this, the Finnish driver managed to get through the morning loop and displayed remarkable speed in the afternoon with his car fully repaired.
Pajari, along with co-driver Enni Malkonen, achieved the second-fastest time on stage six and then delivered an astonishing performance to secure victory on stage nine [Ruuhimaki], completing an impressive comeback. He won the stage by a mere 0.5 seconds ahead of his teammate, eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier.
“Before the rally, I thought that [a stage win] would be nice, but I considered it too ambitious, so I wasn’t expecting anything like this,” Pajari noted, ending Friday in sixth place overall.
“It means a lot to me. The afternoon went really well, and I was second fastest on the first stage, with only Kalle [Rovanpera] ahead of me. I find that when the conditions are more like what I’m familiar with, my speed comes naturally. Even on the Ruuhimaki stage, winning wasn’t my plan; I just focused on a clean drive and enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but I wasn’t pushing hard either.
Sami Pajari, Enni Mälkönen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“The morning was extremely challenging. If you observe the top contenders, several of them made errors during the morning loop. The conditions were undeniably tricky and different from what we usually encounter at Rally Finland. I believe it was simply a lack of experience on my part.”
For context, it took Rally Finland leader and two-time world champion Rovanpera 25 tries to achieve his first WRC stage victory. Among the current WRC competitors, only Ogier has recorded a faster time in the top tier than Pajari, with the Frenchman achieving his second-ever stage win at Rally GB in 2008. Pajari’s success comes just two weeks after Martins Sesks celebrated his first WRC stage win in only his second Rally1 appearance.
When discussing Pajari’s stage victory, teammate Rovanpera remarked: “Claiming your first stage win in your debut rally with a top car is a significant achievement, and Ruuhimaki isn’t an easy stage, so well done.”
Toyota’s sporting director, Kaj Lindstrom, described Pajari’s stage win as the “cherry on top,” while also praising how the young driver managed to recover following his stage two incident.
“He demonstrated maturity in handling this situation,” Lindstrom stated. It was a tough start, but he managed to reset and remained composed enough to bring the car home as we requested. He went out in the afternoon and drove exceptionally well, and I believe the stage win was just the cherry on the cake.
“It’s always impressive to witness new drivers with less experience achieving such feats. It’s fantastic to see rising stars like [Martins] Sesks and Sami.”
