Three drivers stood out from the rest during Thursday morning’s opening loop of stages. M-Sport Ford’s Martins Sesks, Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux and Toyota driver Pajari all made the most of their later starting positions and took control of the top spots.
Sesks surprisingly leads the rally, but Fourmaux and Pajari are right on the Latvian’s tail. The leading trio are separated by just 1.7 seconds.
“It has been pretty good, I must say. It’s nice to see that we are so close,” said Pajari, currently running third overall.
“But it’s a close fight with the top three at the moment, and it was only the first loop. So I expect that many more changes will come on the second loop,” the Finnish driver added.
Pajari ended the loop strongly by setting the fastest time on the Khulais stage. His aim was simply to stay out of trouble and avoid punctures on the desert roads.
“It’s only the first loop done, but it’s always good to make some fastest stage times and be only about a second away from the lead. So it’s going well, but it’s pretty early to really comment more,” Pajari pointed out.
During the morning loop, Pajari’s team-mate Kalle Rovanperä suffered a puncture and dropped more than a minute behind the leaders. Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean also had tyre issues in the early stages.
The afternoon could bring even more of a tyre lottery as the same three stages are driven a second time.
“I guess it’s a totally different challenge. I don’t really know what to expect, but it can’t be so different from the morning,” Pajari reckoned.
