Sami Pajari stood looking at the twisted wreck of his white Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Minutes earlier he’d understeered wide into a field – but lurking just beyond the edge of the asphalt had been a drainage ditch, which sent the Yaris pirouetting into the air.
Before the off Pajari had been on cloud nine: he was midway through another unexpected Rally1 start for the reigning world champions, all while one of his WRC2 title rivals, Yohan Rossel, was suffering an utter mare and set to drop out of title contention entirely.
But as he and navigator Enna Mälkönen stood beside their car, Pajari couldn’t help but feel a sense of his rocketing career trajectory crashing down to earth. He’d been entrusted with one of the world’s most expensive cars and bent it.
“I would like to be in this car,” Pajari told DirtFish while stood at the side of stage 15. “I hope this wasn’t the end for it. I hope there was still some positive about this rally.”
He will have been relieved at his team boss’ reaction. All signs still point to a bright future for Pajari at Toyota.
Jari-Matti Latvala was quick to highlight his pair of top-six finishes in Rally1 on gravel: “This was his third time in Rally1 and he did a really great job in Finland and Chile,” said the Toyota team principal. “And here we could see the performance was growing all the time and we could see that he can do the job on Tarmac as well.
“It was an unfortunate accident and not a massive one, a small mistake that he paid quite a big penalty for. But every driver, when you are driving and you are fighting, you will have one or two mistakes every season.
“He has been very consistent overall, so I think at some point it comes and now it was the time to do a mistake for him, but it’s part of learning.”
There are other factors that suggest a Rally1 future of some kind – whether full-time or part-time – are already set in motion.
Pajari has a golden chance to become WRC2 champion this year
Pajari has a golden opportunity to become WRC2 champion this year. Current points leader Oliver Solberg’s puncture on Rally Chile, his last points-scoring outing of the season, left him fourth on the rally, which means a second place for Pajari would clinch the title – and a debut WRC2 title for Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally2.
A succession plan for who’ll spearhead Toyota’s efforts to win the WRC2 crown in 2025 already appears to be in motion. Teemu Suninen is expected to depart Hyundai, given the manufacturer’s admission that a works-supported WRC2 factory effort is not part of its plans for 2025; Suninen recently tested a GR Yaris Rally2 in France, with the potential for a full campaign in WRC2 next season.
Latvala reinforced that what happened in Central Europe will have no bearing on Pajari’s future in the team: but before he can set foot in a Rally1 car again, there’s the small matter of becoming WRC2 champion to sort out first.
“What you can look at with him is his future: his performances, what he’s done, he’s looking at quite a good future,” said Latvala. “But now he needs to concentrate first with the Rally2 to fight the championship in Japan.”
