Pajari delivered a superbly consistent rally and ultimately finished seventh. With a couple of retirements due to off-road excursions earlier in the season, this success was important for the young Finn.
Team boss Juha Kankkunen revealed on Sunday that the drivers themselves had agreed on the strategy for Sunday. Pajari eased off slightly and let Elfyn Evans, the World Championship leader, move up to sixth place.
“There weren’t any major (tactics). I just thought to myself that if he really starts pushing, it’s probably not worth it for me to fight at this point. I wouldn’t be too upset that it happened that way,” Pajari told RallyJournal.com
“We always have a morning meeting. There wasn’t any major agreement. You can read between the lines what is sensible and good behaviour.”
Pajari was satisfied with his own performance. Even though he didn’t set any fastest stage times, it was more important for him to collect every driving kilometre. After all, this is his first season competing with a Rally1 car.
“You can’t really drive a rally much cleaner than that. There was nothing major at any point. We just drove based on what felt good,” Pajari commented.
“That was exactly the plan – a consistently solid performance. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad one. There were also a few top-three times in there, and it’s nice to see those too. Above all, the idea was just to drive at a pace that feels good. We were never too far from the leaders.”
