Pajari will secure the WRC2 title if he finishes among the top two in the season’s final rally. After nine special stages, Toyota’s Finnish driver holds second place in his category.
Pajari had a frightening moment on Friday morning when a tyre suddenly came off the rim. At the stage finish, the young Finn wore a slightly desperate expression, having lost significant time.
However, Pajari escaped the situation with minimal damage. His rival, Gus Greensmith, made a mistake on the same stage, allowing Pajari to retain second place.
Pajari ended Friday’s stages over a minute behind WRC2 leader Nikolay Gryazin. He doesn’t face immediate threats from behind, with third-placed Hiroki Arai a minute further back.
“We had a puncture on the second stage of the morning loop, but I don’t know what caused it,” Pajari said, puzzled.
“Okay, these things happen, and we lost 40 seconds. But otherwise, our pace was good, and others had issues,” he added.
Behind Pajari, a fierce battle is underway for third place in WRC2, involving five drivers. Arai currently holds the final podium spot, but he is closely followed by former F1 star Heikki Kovalainen, Spain’s Jan Solans, British rally champion Chris Ingram, and Greensmith, who is half a minute behind Arai.
Kovalainen, who underwent open-heart surgery earlier this year, was a positive surprise of the day. While his experience in Japanese conditions plays to his advantage, his overall performance was impressive.
“The first stage of the day was tough. We don’t have a gravel crew here, which is really needed for good stage times. I had a moment in the third corner and nearly went off. It scared me a bit,” Kovalainen admitted during the tyre service.
In previous years, Kovalainen competed in an older Škoda R5, but he is now driving Toyota’s new Rally2 car.
“It’s completely different from the Škoda. The engine is different, and the balance is quite different. The front-end grip of the Toyota is really strong,” Kovalainen praised.
WRC2 standings after SS9/21 in Rally Japan:
POS | Driver | Car | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Nikolay Gryazin | Citroen | 1:30:01.2 |
2. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +1:13.5 |
3. | Hiroki Arai | Skoda | +2:13.8 |
4. | Heikki Kovalainen | Toyota | +2:19.1 |
5. | Jan Solans | Toyota | +2:24.1 |
6. | Chris Ingram | Toyota | +2:26.1 |
7. | Gus Greensmith | Skoda | +2:44.9 |