Nobody should be driving the world’s current fastest rally car and not enjoying it.
But where you and I would simply revel at the opportunity to try and not embarrass ourselves in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, elite World Rally Championship drivers only care about one thing: winning.
That enjoyment you and I would derive purely by driving, Rally1 drivers only gain through performance and results.
Little wonder, then, that Sami Pajari was one very dejected Rally1 driver after the Monte Carlo Rally.
A crash on Thursday evening, and then another on Saturday afternoon, was bad news in itself. But to be over 1s/km slower than the leader on every single stage he completed made it, in Pajari’s words, the worst rally of his career, and a disaster according to Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala.
Pajari's Sweden could not have been more different to his Monte Carlo
“Yeah, Monte Carlo was… I have to say, it was a disaster,” Latvala told DirtFish. “I know that the starting point for the second rally, it is very, very difficult when you have had a [rally like that].
“You’re losing your self-confidence when there is no speed and then you have done a mistake.”
Rally Sweden was therefore a massive test for the young Finn. It was no surprise to hear him talking of the team’s support for him in those two empty weeks between the season-opener and round two in Umeå.
“I feel in this team, the support is there basically for everyone,” Pajari told DirtFish. “It’s a really nice team to be part of. But yeah, of course, I’m also there personally to deliver the results. And it’s not only that I want to deliver for them, but also for myself.”
Ultimately, that’s precisely what Pajari did. Never outside the top-four all rally long, the 24-year-old won two stages and snared the second WRC podium of his career, forming part of yet another Toyota 1-2-3-4.
Latvala admitted the team had a long talk with Pajari in order to get him mentally reset for Sweden.
“We had a long conversation with Sami before the event and and I tried to cheer him up and remind him that the fundamental parts of the rallying is drive and enjoy the driving, keep smiling and enjoy the best conditions in the world,” Latvala revealed.
“And I think this is what he realized, that how nice the rallying is and bringing up his self-confidence.
“This is what you want to see after a difficult rally,” added the WRC’s most experienced driver. “You want to see that the speed has not disappeared, that you have the speed with the top drivers in the world.”
Pajari had a good bank of evidence from the back-end of 2025 to justify that Monte Carlo 2026 was a blip, but there was no better way to emphasize and prove that than with the performance he produced in Sweden.
Asked how much pressure he was under to perform throughout the rally weekend, the fact he responded ‘I guess I had some’ is both an indication of his underlying confidence but also the work Toyota did to relieve him of any pressure.
Operating in an environment where he was encouraged and reminded rather than threatened, Pajari was quickly able to get back to his best.
Pajari has a podium in Japan and Sweden - where else can he get one?
“Maybe I was just trying to be confident, especially after the test I had before the event. The feeling was quite nice,” Pajari reflected, “so I was just trying to think that we have done all we can.
“I prepared as well as I can and then it should go the way it basically goes, but of course I was hoping for a good result. So there was no real secret. Clearly Monte was really tricky, but I feel that we were back to where we should be after the last few races of last season.
” I was trying [to be more relaxed], especially quite soon after the very few first stages,” the Finn added. “I saw that the pace is quite fine and after that, the confidence was coming even more and more. Then the peak was yesterday [Saturday] afternoon when we took a few stage wins. At the same time, I was really enjoying the rest.”
Pajari will now land in Kenya next month able to build on what he’s accomplished in Sweden – and who’s to say he can’t get another podium at the Safari?
“I now have two podiums from two completely different rallies. So in a way, I would like to think that we can be on a pace basically wherever – or at least in many different conditions,” Pajari said.
“If it was only like Finland and Estonia where I take the podiums, then it’s a little bit different story. But when it’s different rallies together, then it’s giving you an even better feeling.”
