Pajari set off with optimism, aiming to increase his pace compared to last season, when he competed for the first year at the wheel of a Rally1 car. However, the rally literally went off track already on Thursday evening, when the Finn was forced to retire due to an off-road excursion.
The frozen road surface caught him out, the car hit a bridge barrier and the left rear corner of the car took damage. In service, however, the car was patched back together, and on Friday Pajari was able to gain additional experience on wintery asphalt roads.
“After Thursday, we tried different things and aimed to maximise what we could also from a testing perspective. The conditions were extremely challenging all day, with difficult tyre choices in tricky conditions. A lot of things we hadn’t experienced before. The pace did improve, but there was still plenty of room for improvement, Pajari says on his website.
On Saturday, however, more trouble was in store when Pajari went off the road for a second time. The line through a corner went too wide towards the snowbank, with the speed eventually stopping against a tree, resulting in another retirement for the day. After assessing the damage and determining that the car could not be repaired within the available time, the team decided to retire the driver pairing from the rally.
“Before the rally, the feeling was good, even better than ever before at Monte. But right from the start of the rally it was very challenging. I couldn’t find the pace and still made mistakes. A really confusing weekend,” Pajari recounts.
“It even felt hopeless. When it doesn’t go, it doesn’t go. I don’t think I’ve ever driven such a poor rally from my own perspective. I don’t mean the performance, but overall how everything felt. Everything suddenly became really difficult.”
For Pajari, there was nothing to take away from the Monte Carlo weekend. The WRC season continues in three weeks’ time with the winter rally in Sweden.
“The weekend was a disappointment, definitely not what we were aiming for. I’m also sorry for the team and the fans that we didn’t succeed and that I made mistakes. Now we’ll focus on the things that need to be improved,”
