Pajari ultimately finished fourth in the demanding and gruelling rally. It marks the best result of his career in the top class of the World Rally Championship – a result he also achieved on his debut in Finland last summer.
Granted, Pajari benefitted from issues others encountered. Toyota teammates Kalle Rovanperä and Takamoto Katsuta both dropped out ahead of him on the final day. Rovanperä retired due to an electrical issue, while Katsuta rolled his car at the start of the final Power Stage.
Still, Pajari’s performance deserves praise. The Finn kept his composure and brought the car home in one piece – surprisingly intact, in fact.
“Let’s say for the moment, it’s just a big relief once we reached the finish. It’s a long, long week of doing the work and basically four days of rallying, so it really can be exhausting. But let’s say I’m super happy to finish,” Pajari said.
“No issues, no mistakes – so basically, that is exactly what we wanted from this event. So from that side, I must be really pleased,” he added with a smile.
That’s not to say Pajari’s Safari Rally went off without a hitch. He suffered punctures early in the rally. But after that, things went smoothly, and the Finn made it through the rest of the event cleanly. Avoiding trouble even sparked some humour between Pajari and his co-driver Marko Salminen.
“We were joking that maybe we used all the bad luck in the beginning, because then the rest was really, really clean,” Pajari laughed.
“But also, those few, let’s say, difficulties in the beginning were not really big mistakes, I suppose, from my side. So, let’s say I didn’t really change anything in the approach or anything after that – just going cleanly and step by step, building up the speed once I felt more comfortable,” he explained.
Despite the extreme challenge, Pajari was excited to have experienced the iconic rally for the first time in his career.
“It’s quite a nice challenge, I must say. The atmosphere here is very, very special – something you cannot experience anywhere else. So of course, it’s a very unique event. I must say that hey, maybe if we come here next year, then for sure it will be much, much easier,” Pajari said.
