Before Sunday’s final special stages, Pajari sits in fourth place in the rally. Ahead of him, Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux is just over 20 seconds away, so unless the Frenchman makes mistakes, Pajari is unlikely to climb up the leaderboard. On the other hand, there’s a large gap to the drivers behind, allowing Pajari to take things calmly on the final day of the rally.
“It was quite a decent day overall. There were some good stages, and certain sections went really well. Of course, when you get a bit closer to the front, you always want more. I really should manage to get past the top guys one of these days,” Pajari summed up.
“In the morning things could have gone wrong when we hit a snowbank. Fortunately, nothing serious happened. The exhaust pipe took a bit of a knock and started making a loud noise. The noise definitely brought on a headache – my ears are still ringing.”
Since there was no proper service on Saturday, Pajari had to cope with his noisy car until the evening.
“It still feels like there’s some concert going on around me. I could still somehow hear, but on really twisty sections it was tough because the co-driver had to shout the pace notes, and those parts are full of information. You have to take in everything – if you miss something, at this level it can make a difference,” Pajari reflected.
“There’s absolutely no room for guessing, otherwise you lose immediately. I don’t want to make excuses, but the noise definitely added its own challenge.”
Sunday will feature six more special stages. It’s expected to be the toughest day of the rally, with heavy rain forecast. So far, this year’s Rally Japan has taken place in sunny weather.
“We’ll see tomorrow how we approach it. Rain has been forecast, so it will certainly make things more challenging. So far, it’s been a real joy to drive, but tomorrow might be a different story. Sometimes you just have to experience those conditions too,” Pajari summed up.
“We’ll have to discuss with the bosses what our approach will be. At least now I’ll have a chance to experience those kinds of conditions and learn about the car and the tyres on wet asphalt. That’s a good thing for the future.”
