Sami Pajari is back where his 2026 form suggested he belonged: on the podium.
Rally Japan delivered his fifth piece of silverware in the World Rally Championship this season, the equal best record of any driver this season alongside championship leader Elfyn Evans.
That would seem reason to celebrate. But Pajari’s mood immediately after the rally wasn’t as cheerful as one might expect for someone who just stepped onto the podium of a WRC event.
“I didn’t see it [this podium] as so special,” Pajari told DirtFish. “Maybe then I had too high hopes for myself because maybe I was expecting or hoping for even better than what we did.
“Maybe I was optimistic.”
Pajari is chasing a first WRC win
Japan was the final asphalt event of the season, a surface that – aside from a very icy season opener in the Alps – Pajari has scored a podium finish on at every round this season, and almost took his victory on in Croatia.
The remaining seven rounds this season are all gravel, where road sweeping will become a major factor. Pajari is fourth in the championship – so while his team-mates will start ahead of him in Greece, he remains cautious of what his Hyundai rivals might conjure up when the WRC heads to the Acropolis later this month.
Asked whether he was happy to be switching from asphalt to gravel for remainder of 2026, Pajari said: “I don’t know. For the moment it’s still OK once we are not the one opening the road. But in another way, maybe it’s giving more chance for the guys a bit behind.
“Even now it looks like Elfyn is doing really well, which he is. But I guess there is a really good chance for others to catch him.”
Pajari is 55 points behind Evans in the title race; the majority of that gap is down to Sundays, where Evans has picked up 52 bonus points compared to Pajari’s 13 – the lowest total of any full-time driver at either Toyota or Hyundai.
Upcoming fast gravel rallies in Estonia and Finland are obvious strong events for Pajari given his rallying background domestically in Finland – but he suggested other gravel rounds would also suit him.
“It’s always a big one, of course,” said Pajari of his home WRC round. “It’s one of my favorites, not only because it’s a home rally, but also the profile of the stage is really, really nice.
“But there are also nice other rallies. I like many, many of the coming events, so it’s hard to really pick out one which really suits me more than the others.”
