After six special stages, Toyota driver Pajari sits impressively in fourth place in the Rally Chile. The gap to his leading teammate Elfyn Evans is just 12.2 seconds, while a podium spot is only 2.2 seconds away.
Though Pajari didn’t quite set the fastest times, he consistently ranked among the top five drivers. For the young Finnish driver, gaining experience in a top-tier Rally1 car remains the primary goal, but showing good pace certainly doesn’t hurt either.
“We have see it is extremely tight. It’s just really small caps. I think that’s the thing when the competition is just really, really tough. I think like everyone is saying that it was really tricky and a lot of rhythm changes on the stages,” Pajari said.
“For me to be therer first time with this car, it’s even more difficult to really trust the speed. But still it was a clean day. Not any issues, no mistakes, nothing. I think it was quite solid but I would lie if I say that it was easy.”
On Saturday, the profile of the stages shifts slightly. Pajari is not planning to take unnecessary risks or chase podiums recklessly. His main goal is to collect valuable mileage from all six special stages of the day, ensuring consistent progress and gaining more experience with the Rally1 car.
“I’m just trying to do the same. It’s still a really a new challenge. Tomorrow the stages are maybe a bit different and we have different starting order. So it can affect someone’s pace., I think we are starting more or less the same position as today. So for us, it’s not so big change, ” Pajari told.
“It’s still two long days to drive. I’m just doing my own thing and then we see what happens.”
In Chile, six special stages will be contested on Saturday. The rally will conclude on Sunday.
