After claiming three consecutive World Rally Championship wins, Sami Pajari says he needs to take a deeper look to understand a lack of speed in Rally Chile.
Victories in Estonia, Finland and Paraguay established the Finn as Elfyn Evans’ closest rival in the title race, sitting 20 points adrift with three rallies of the season remaining.
In Chile, Pajari has struggled to replicate the speed, heading into Sunday sitting in a lonely fifth, 1min15.5s behind leader and team-mate Oliver Solberg. As it stands, the Toyota driver is set to lose ground to Evans in the championship, with Evans holding second going into the final day.
Pajari has been recovering from losing 17.8s in Friday’s opening stage, held in wet and muddy conditions. Heading into Saturday 21.7s from the lead, Pajari hoped to remain in the fight, but drifted away having been hampered by road position on the dry gravel stages.
When asked why he has struggled in Chile, Pajari was unable to pinpoint a definitive reason.
“It is a really good question,” he said. “We are just not able to match the best times this time. I think this is part of the sport. Even someone like Seb Ogier who has won the world title nine times, is not winning every rally.
Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“Of course, we need to have a deeper look to see what the issue is, I’m not saying there is some major issue, but what are the reasons we are losing time. and learn, and try to be better in future.”
He added: “It is tricky. At least the driving was okay in the second loop but not quite enough to make the best times. It is tricky and in this position it is like guessing. There is a discussion about road position but is it explaining all the time loss or not? It is tricky to say what is wrong.”
Pajari said that Sunday’s four stages could be important for his championship hopes with 10 bonus points on offer.
“Of course, it can be really crucial. I really hope we can catch some of the points but at the same time the fight is really on at the top, so still anything can happen to anyone,” he said.
“The Power Stage is quite straight forward but the other stage is completely new for everyone and quite a tricky one, so anything can happen.”
Solberg sets sights on Super Sunday push
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Pajari isn’t the only driver keen to maximise Super Sunday. Rally leader Solberg is eager to not only record a second WRC win of the season, but secure a strong haul of Sunday points to boost his own title hopes.
Solberg has proved to be particularly strong on Sundays this season having previously claimed the full 10 points in Kenya, Croatia, Japan and Estonia. In the previous two rounds in Finland and Paraguay the Monte Carlo winner has come away with nine Super Sunday points.
“I always do my thing on Sundays, and now it’s just a different position in the rally. I think it’s possible [to get all 10 points], but I will not go over the limit to do so,” said Solberg, who leads the rally by 19.1s from Evans.
“I don’t think anyone will because it’s very tricky tomorrow. So let’s see. The first stage tomorrow will be the proper one.”
M-Sport identifies reason for Armstrong crash
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
M-Sport-Ford team principal Rich Millener believes an incorrect pace note was the root cause of Jon Armstrong’s roll during stage eight that forced the Northern Irishman to retire from sixth position.
“I mean 99% of his pacenotes are fine, but there are very odd occasions where he just gets it quite wrong. I think he agrees that this one was again too fast, a bit like on the Sunday in Paraguay,” said Millener.
“We’ve got to understand why the odd corner like that catches him out because maybe you need to have a bit more of a think when you’re making the pace notes as well, that when you have no room for error on the outside of the corner, you’re going to have an accident like that.
“You’ve got to build that into your caution. You might think you can get around the corner, but if you can’t, you’re going to crash. So it’s disappointing because we had the plan. He knows that and we’re not going to go mad at him about it.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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