Pajari’s task this year is to gain experience with the Rally1 car, but no doubt good results are also on the wish list. At times, Pajari has shown flashes of speed on stages, but on two out of four occasions, the car has also ended up “in the hands of the forestry service.”
On Sunday morning in Monte Carlo, black ice caught out Pajari on the same stage where Takamoto Katsuta also went off. In Sweden, Pajari finished seventh, and in Kenya he was fifth. In the Canary Islands, however, he suffered another retirement after crashing into a bridge railing on special stage 12.
The crash in the Canary Islands was particularly unfortunate, as Pajari was running in fourth place and Toyota was on course for a 1–2–3–4–5 finish. Since Pajari is not scoring points for Toyota’s manufacturer team, the retirements are not critical in that regard. Still, it is clear that as the year progresses, he will need to start delivering results.
“In the Canaries my rally was going quite well until the slightest mistake took us out. It was a pity but it’s all part of the learning and now we look forward to the next event in Portugal,” Pajari said.
Last season, Pajari’s Rally Portugal ended in disappointment when he went off the road on Sunday. However, Pajari also has good memories from the Atlantic coast, as he finished second in the JWRC category in 2021 and celebrated a class victory there the following year.
“Some of the stages there can be really enjoyable and others can be very rough, and with long days and high temperatures it can be demanding for the car and the crew,” Pajari told.
“It’s again quite different to what’s come before but we will just continue with our approach; I hope we can have a clean event in Portugal and then try to improve from one rally to the next through Sardinia and Greece.”
The route of Rally Portugal comprises a total of 24 special stages, covering nearly 345 kilometres.
