Pajari claimed the WRC2 championship title in 2024. Immediately after the season finale, Toyota announced that Pajari would compete in a full season with Toyota’s Rally1 car in the top class of the WRC next year.
Pajari will drive Toyota’s so-called fourth car. Alongside him, Kalle Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans, and Takamoto Katsuta will race as Toyota’s full-time drivers, while Sebastien Ogier will participate in select events.
This arrangement means Pajari won’t need to stress about contributing to the manufacturers’ championship points, at least in the early part of the season. WRC teams can nominate three drivers per rally to compete for championship points, allowing Pajari to focus on gaining experience without significant pressure.
This setup suits Pajari perfectly.
“The early season will probably follow a similar plan to the three rallies we did with Toyota’s Rally1 car this year. There’s not a lot of pressure for results, but of course, I’ll try to do my best,” Pajari told RallyJournal.com.
“If the pace turns out to be good all of a sudden, I won’t need to hold back. But there’s no need to force top performances right from the start.”
Toyota isn’t placing heavy expectations on the Finnish prospect at this stage, and Pajari himself plans to set his goals on a rally-by-rally basis.
“My first natural goal was to set a fastest stage time, but that already happened in Jyväskylä (Rally Finland) and sooner than I had expected. Of course, the next step would be to aim for a podium and then a first win. But there’s no rigid goal that a win must come next year,” Pajari emphasised.
Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala, however, has challenged Pajari, stating he expects him to compete for podiums in certain rallies. Pajari is ready to take on the challenge.
“Of course, I’d hope for that. Even this year, the pace was very good at times in a couple of rallies. I think there were even individual rally days where we were the third fastest overall for that day.
“It might just be possible, and that’s certainly the goal,” Pajari concluded.
