He’s only started seven rounds of the World Rally Championship on Tarmac and now this. Little wonder Sami Pajari is marshaling a slightly cautious approach to this week’s Central European Rally, his maiden outing in an asphalt-specification Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
The 22-year-old Finn impressed with his Rally1 run to fourth in Finland, where he even set a fastest stage time on the opening leg of his first event in Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally1. He then finished sixth on his second outing in the car on Rally Chile last month, when the team benched full-time driver Takamoto Katsuta.
This one’s different. The gravel’s gone, the Yaris is stiffer, lower and racier than ever ahead of Thursday’s Prague start to this week’s CER.
Katsuta returns to Toyota’s potentially point-scoring line-up for the cross-border CER, with Pajari driving a fourth car for his top-level asphalt debut. The final European WRC round of the season represents the next step on Pajari’s progression to what he hopes will be an extended Rally1 program with Toyota next year.
“Learning is basically what it’s all about at the moment,” said Pajari. “For us, it’s about driving smart and pushing within reason. We’re still gaining experience, as we have in the previous two rallies in the Rally1 class.
Chile's abrasive gravel was the next step from home terrain in Finland
“Obviously it will be a big challenge. I think Central Europe is not the most easy rally anyway to start with on Tarmac. We are doing stages in three different countries and all the stages are basically a bit different – or at least in the different countries it’s all different.
“And also I think at this time of the year the weather can be quite unpredictable in this area. Most likely it will be some wet, challenging conditions, so I’m not sure if it will be the most enjoyable rally.”
Pajari contested the inaugural edition of CER aboard Rally2 machinery last year, finishing fifth in class. It gave him a good feel for what to expect from this year’s stages, despite the route featuring a number of changes.
A full day’s pre-event test amid mixed weather conditions in the Czech Republic offered an opportunity to start getting acclimatized with the Rally1’s extra power and grip on asphalt roads.
Now he needs to meld the two – a process that will continue throughout the event.
It’s about driving smart and pushing within reasonSami Pajari
Pajari said: “It left me with a positive feeling. The morning was wet, while the afternoon was dry, so we got a good sense of both conditions. The roads were narrow and dirty, which I expect we’ll encounter a lot during the rally, particularly on the Czech stages.
“The car felt really good to drive – actually a bit easier than I had anticipated, given the increase in power and speed compared to my previous asphalt experiences.
“I expect some, let’s say, nice learning curve during the rally as well. I am basically limited with just one test day on Tarmac before the event, so the rally will be also for me to learn, but of course we will do our best.
“We have been able to do quite nice results with the other cars so for me Tarmac can be also really enjoyable and nice but I think the difference here is that we are going to an especially tricky rally.
“It will be one of the most challenging rallies in the calendar from that side. Last year, it felt quite tricky for me. And especially in my position, I would not like to rush anything with a Rally1 car on Tarmac.
Impressing the Toyota team is about more than headline speed
“So it’s better to keep calm and, let’s say, go step by step – so not to expect too much from my side as well.”
While keeping expectations in check, Pajari is keen to maximize the opportunity and show his speed if circumstances allow.
“I’m trying not to think the expectations too much,” he added. “I think anyway we did a quite solid job in Finland and Chile already, and those are maybe still the conditions that I’m more familiar with.
“But it was the same thing in both rallies what we did so far: if the feeling was good and the confidence was good, then I was feeling that I can push a little bit more and then we did some really nice stage times.
Pajari flew to Finnish Friday stage win
“But always if there was more risk or somehow more tricky conditions, or I was not so comfortable with the car, then it was just always the plan basically to step back a little bit and not to do anything stupid, and still to gain the experience; not to rush too much.
“So I think it’s again the same story again in the next rally. We don’t try to win the rally or anything but we will do of course our best and when the feeling is good then we will go a bit faster.
“For us, it’s about driving smart and pushing within reason. We’re still gaining experience, as we have in the previous two rallies in the Rally1 class.”
Striking the right balance between taking risks and driving safely is ultimately the key to results in rallying – provided the underlying pace is there. So while he is keen to play down expectations, if Pajari can display those qualities this week, CER could go a long way to determining whether he is ready for the next step.
