The wry smile etched across Sami Pajari’s face demonstrated his mental dilemma.
“I feel very happy for Taka and Aaron,” he told DirtFish. “I was much more gutted yesterday when the lead was taken away. I basically, that moment, in a way, knew that the win is gone.
“I mean, it ended up being really dramatic until the last moment, but still, we basically recovered well from what happened yesterday, so still need to be happy about it.”
The dilemma was an agreement he and eventual Croatia Rally winner Takamoto Katsuta struck on Saturday night.
Both drivers suffered punctures on the second pass of the brand-new Generalski Stol – Zdihovo test, leaving them each over a minute behind Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Katsuta and Pajari finished first and second, but thought they were on for second and third
With Pajari losing a lead he’d fought well to protect, and Katsuta needing to finish at all costs after accidents for the two other manufacturer-nominated Toyotas on Friday, the pair realized they had a common interest.
Let’s not fight each other on Sunday.
“There was a big gap between me and Thierry and also Sami, so we just agreed a quite separate, clear plan that I bring car back to the finish,” Katsuta explained. “And if it is possible, I try maybe a few points for the powerstage. Not full points for sure, but that’s our target.
“Then Oliver and Elfyn are going for it, for the points. And yeah, that was very clear, separate target. So it went well. And Elfyn and Oliver were as fast as expected. So it was very good weekend for the team.”
Pajari started the final leg 31.9s adrift of Katsuta but ended it 20.7s behind. Had he pushed hard, he could have ended up winning a rally he was convinced had been taking away from him.
“Of course I should be happy, I should be satisfied with the final results, to be P2,” the Finn mused. “I was joking about it that I have already enough of those third positions, so it would be nice to get something more at some point! So that’s what happened.
“So I still should be really happy for what we did this week. When coming here I was for sure not expecting to have such a strong performance and we ended up leading the rally on Friday overnight and for a good distance also on Saturday until it was taken away.
“So it still leaves some hunger for more. But of course the last two rallies has been really positive for us, so I’m happy for that.”
