Starting Saturday third, and almost half a minute off the lead, Sami Pajari would never have expected to lead his home round of the World Rally Championship into the final day.
Yet the Rally Estonia winner goes to bed with a 46.4-second advantage over Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg.
Elfyn Evans had been ahead of Pajari throughout the morning, but the championship leader rolled and lost two minutes on the final stage before service.
Sébastien Ogier then crashed on the day’s penultimate stage, paving Pajari’s path clear to assume the rally lead.
“What a long day, once again,” the Finn reflected to DirtFish.
“The morning loop was absolutely beautiful, a really close fight. Not too close, but close enough that everyone was pushing all we can so it was really enjoyable – perfect conditions, beautiful stages and everything was just absolutely amazing.
“And then already on the last stage of the morning loop Elfyn went off, so some drama started. But yeah I guess he had a lucky escape in a way that he could bring the car back to the service and continue. And so in that position, after the morning loop, I thought that there is completely no chance to catch Séb.
“The only plan was trying to have some flow and rhythm on the driving. So it was more like a joke that I was saying a couple of times that, yeah, OK, we need to keep pressure on Séb, which is in a way was true but for me there was completely no chance to catch him.
“I don’t know what really happened when they went off, but I really in a way feel really sorry for them. Obviously it was a really hard, big crash what they had but I heard that they they are pretty much OK so that’s the most important thing.
“But I think it’s exactly same case as what happened a couple of years ago to Kalle [Rovanperä] that he was clearly in the lead and then went off because of maybe not only because of his fault. So things like that can happen in this rally and it’s somehow mental.”
Pajari doesn’t have the pressure of having to win his first WRC event, but is nevertheless on the brink of a victory on home soil.
“Well, I really would not like to take too much pressure,” he said. “Still, even the last stage today I was able to somehow find the rhythm and enjoy the stage. But yeah, it’s safe to say that it’s maybe not the easiest position to be in, but that’s the way it is.
“You know it’s never never really over before it’s over, so I know also that something can happen also to us.”
