Pajari is competing on tarmac for the first time in the top class of the WRC with a Rally1 car. His pace was slightly hindered on Friday as his car’s hybrid unit stopped working right at the start of the first special stage in the morning.
Pajari finished the day in sixth place overall, with a gap of about a minute and a half to the leader.
“In my opinion, it was great to see that my speed is getting really good in certain conditions. It was a shame that we lost the hybrid – not so much in terms of results, but now it’s a bit of guesswork to evaluate my times,” Pajari told RallyJournal.com.
“Some estimates suggest it could be up to 0.4 seconds per kilometre (the time loss without the hybrid unit). Considering we drove almost the entire day without it, that adds up to quite a bit. But it’s still a bit of guesswork as to how much it actually is. Overall, though, it was a good day for me,” Pajari summed up.
In addition to Pajari, M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux also had to drive without the extra power from the hybrid unit on Friday. Fourmaux was aiming for a podium finish, but by the end of the day, the Frenchman was behind Pajari in seventh place on the leaderboard.
“It was nice to compare times with him since he also had the hybrid out of use. Given that, we had pretty good pace today. If tomorrow the hybrid is working for everyone, then there will be others to compare against,” Pajari said.
Pajari is expected to have the hybrid unit back in action for Saturday’s stages, which will take place in Austria and Germany. The nature of the roads will change, as Friday’s stages took place in the Czech Republic.
“Tomorrow will also have some narrow and precise sections, so it won’t be easy by any means. But theoretically, it shouldn’t be as slippery, and there should be fewer cuts than today,” Pajari concluded.
