Rally Estonia winner Sami Pajari feels he has ‘nothing to lose’ as he targets back-to-back World Rally victories at next week’s Rally Finland.
Pajari led last week’s Rally Estonia from start to finish, winning 12 of the 18 stages to record a 19.5-second winning margin over Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg.
The result was his sixth podium from nine starts in 2026 (more than any other driver) and elevated him to third in the championship, 33 points behind leader Elfyn Evans.
Pajari admitted he still doesn’t have the right words to describe his emotions after claiming his maiden WRC win.
“The win in Estonia was something really, really amazing,” he said. “I still believe somehow the words are really not fitting my mouth yet. It’s a weird thing to really say that we won a WRC event.
“Of course, I’m really, really happy for that. Really grateful for thousands of people helping me on the way to get to that point. But at the same time, feeling super, super proud for the team. But also, I need to be happy for myself.
“Still, I really don’t know what to say about it, other than just being really, really happy. But [I am] also relieved because I haven’t been around in Rally1 too long, but still there was a couple of times we were already pretty close to taking the first win; it’s something you are chasing really hard and the moment it comes your way, it’s of course a big relief.
“There is not really time to stop and relax and enjoy [winning Estonia] too much because the next event is just next door. So we are already preparing for Rally Finland.”
Pajari tested his GR Yaris Rally1 on Tuesday and is aware that many people will be expecting him to win Rally Finland given his performance in Estonia. The 24-year-old admitted victory was his target – but said he feels no pressure to do so.
There will be even more flying over jumps in store for Pajari at his home round
“Rally Finland is of course one of those ones everyone wants to win and I think there will be quite many people around expecting us to win in there because we won one week ago in Estonia,” he said.
“It’s a quite similar rally, fast gravel rally and so on but I know we cannot really underestimate the competition. It’s not going to be any easier really and in history it has been really tricky event for Finns to win sometimes.
“I know that it’s not going to be easy, but at the same time, I have nothing to lose really. Of course, I will do my best once again. We saw that last week we can win these rallies.
“Of course, I hope we can make it happen, but still, like I said, I can’t take too much pressure. We know it’s going to be tricky and I’m not the only one who wants to win.”
