After six special stages on Friday, Pajari holds an impressive fourth place overall. The Toyota driver is just 16.8 seconds off rally leader Sébastien Ogier and under ten seconds from a podium position.
Behind Pajari is none other than two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä. However, Pajari was quick to downplay any comparisons, as he clearly benefited from a better starting position on Friday.
“Maybe comparing myself to Kalle is a bit silly in my opinion. But it’s nice to see we’re this close to the top. That’s been our strategy from the start of the season — not trying to go flat out in the first rallies because mistakes happen easily that way,” Pajari explained.
“We got through Portugal cleanly, which made it much easier to come here, and I felt more prepared. Driving feels relatively smooth. Of course, the starting position helped compared to Kalle and Elfyn (Evans), but we’re not far off others who started around the same time.”
Even though Pajari’s pace is clearly improving, the young Finn still pinpointed areas for improvement that could help him go even faster.
“There’s still a lot I can improve on. Like on the final stage of the day — I think we were pretty much on pace for the fastest time halfway through, but still lost several seconds by the end,” he reflected.
“There are some really good splits, but there are also certain sections where others are clearly better. In the morning there were lots of loose rocks, and I tried to avoid many of them. That immediately costs time. Even if it’s just a few tenths here and there, if you dodge seven rocks, that adds up. That’s something I need to learn — which rocks to avoid and which ones to just drive over. It’s the little things that make the difference.”
Even though the prospect of a first career podium is certainly tempting, the calm and composed Pajari isn’t letting excitement cloud his focus.
“Ideally, I’d just like to maintain the same pace. With gaps this small, the positions can still drop, but then again, others might run into trouble too. There are still two long days to go, so it’s hard to say what will happen. I’d be happy if I can keep this level,” Pajari summed up.
“There’s not much we need to change for tomorrow. We’ll try to carry the same feeling into the day. Tomorrow’s stages are supposed to be even more technical, but I quite enjoy that too.”
