“We knew it was coming, there was no doubt, but now we have done it.”
Sami Pajari always had the belief he could, but now he’s officially a World Rally Championship winner.
Recording victory at Rally Estonia by 19.5 seconds, the Finn won 12 of the rally’s 18 stages to lead the event from start to finish, scoring his sixth podium finish of the season – more than any other driver in the field.
He summed up his immediate emotions to DirtFish.
“Of course it was just a really big joy, big enjoyment, big relief to cross the finish line,” he said.
“But actually in this rally, maybe the distance from the flying finish to the stop control was maybe the shortest ever in any rally, because it was just after this really tight corner.
“So normally you like cruise slowly to the stop control and then you can already discuss with the team and with Marko [Salminen, co-driver] and then you kind of prepare for whatever there is waiting for you at the stop control. But this time it was like really close and so everyone was like showing thumbs up so maybe we won. And then we just jump on the roof.”
Pajari looked in total control of Rally Estonia throughout, but insisted his victory wasn’t as straightforward as it appeared.
“We won 12 stages out of 18 and in a way it looked like really dominant and maybe in a way it was, but still the differences were not that huge at any point,” he explained.
“So every stage, if we had, let’s say, a big stage win or a proper stage win, it was maybe three seconds at once. So it was never like anything big at once. So there was in a way this kind of excitement or the pressure was always there.
“You don’t have the possibility to make any bigger mistake and otherwise you have lost all the time you have, so still pretty much until the very last stage you need to be on it, so there was no time to relax and even if it looks that we were dominant it was not easy at any point.”
Pajari's performance naturally raises expectation of what he can achieve in Finland
Pajari’s breakthrough victory sets him up perfectly for Rally Finland in two weeks’ time, where naturally expectation will be for him to repeat his Estonia result.
“I really hope so,” he said, “but at the same time I know it’s not going to be any easier. Of course, the self-confidence is maybe increasing now, but still Rally Finland is a new challenge.
“It’s quite similar in a way compared to Estonia, but it’s still an own thing and a different challenge. It’s not going to be easy, but for sure I’m ready to do the best I can.”
Pajari’s win lifted him to third in the world championship ahead of Sébastien Ogier, 33 points adrift of Elfyn Evans and just eight shy of Takamoto Katsuta.
