The Finnish driver showed flashes of speed early in the season and, among other results, finished fourth in Kenya. In his home rally in Central Finland, he in turn secured fifth place. Towards the end of the year, however, many were hoping for a bigger step forward in terms of pace from Pajari – and that is exactly what he delivered.
In Japan, Pajari claimed the first podium finish of his career by taking third place. In the season-ending rally in Saudi Arabia, even victory would have been possible, but in the end he had to settle for fourth place in what was a “lottery rally”.
Pajari himself is pleased with how both pace and consistency improved over the course of the season.
“We’ve more or less had podium pace on almost every surface. Maybe we’re better in some conditions than others, but we took our first podium on asphalt,” Pajari says.
“The first podium which was nice to show I think on gravel and snow it should be a little bit even easier in a way”
Next season, Pajari will surely be hungry for his first career win in the World Championship. Achieving that, however, will require a near-perfect performance from the driver.
“But like then when you are about to be on the podium, I think then it’s just a matter of things. If the things happen to go your way or not, it’s a little bit deciding if you can take the win or not,” Pajari explains.
“Of course I still need to work on my my driving, but it’s about all the really slightest details at the moment, I believe.”
