The Finnish driver is currently in sixth place in the competition, trailing the leader by just under 50 seconds. Pajari experienced a setback right at the first stage of the morning when his hybrid unit stopped working. As a result, Pajari has to drive the entire Friday without the additional power provided by the hybrid.
“Suddenly, the hybrid just stopped working. I don’t know why it happened. Usually, a shock error can occur if the car takes a clear hit. In that case, it shuts down for safety reasons. This time, I don’t know why it happened,” Pajari explained to RallyJournal.com.
“It happened on a straight road, although there were some bumps, as there are on many stages in this rally. But there wasn’t any clear impact.”
Pajari, who is driving his first asphalt race in a Rally1 car, has left behind the more experienced M-Sport Ford drivers Adrien Fourmaux and Gregoire Munster. However, keeping up with the leaders is out of the question, as the World Championship contenders Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak, along with Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans, are in a league of their own.
“The situation is that I’ll have to manage today without the hybrid. It’s hard to estimate what impact that will have on the time. Of course, at its best, it gives an extra 100 horsepower, so I’m sure some time will be lost because of this. In the evening, they’ll likely replace the unit with a completely new one,” Pajari pondered.
“I’m satisfied. Certain sections were surprisingly enjoyable to drive. I expected it to be much more challenging and worse. Of course, the weather is somewhat favourable, but there are still muddy and slippery spots. Overall, I have a good feeling about the morning run.”
On clean asphalt, Pajari clocked stage times close to the leaders. His task in Central Europe is to gain experience and bring the car to the finish line. For this reason, on dirty road sections where mud, sand, and leaves have surfaced, Pajari’s gap to the leaders has grown.
“I’ve been driving very cautiously, but still, the times on certain stages were at a pretty good level. It would have been interesting to see the time for the final stage of the loop, especially if the hybrid had worked. Now it’s just a guess as to how much time was lost,” Pajari summarised.
“Some sections felt great, and the split times were very good. It’s probably quite natural to be extra cautious on the dirty sections. However, I want to proceed safely, but surely, little by little, the pace can be picked up in those areas too.”
On Friday, the Central European Rally continues with two more special stages in the Czech Republic. On Saturday and Sunday, the competition will take place in Germany and Austria.
