Sami Pajari admitted he was lucky to survive a dramatic morning at Rally Paraguay. The Toyota driver encountered trouble from the very first stage, losing power due to a water leak. He and co-driver Marko Salminen managed to seal the leak well enough to reach midday service.
The drama was far worse for his teammates. Takamoto Katsuta rolled his car on the opening stage, while Sebastien Ogier suffered two punctures and was eventually forced to retire after breaking the suspension. Championship leader Elfyn Evans drove without mistakes but experienced delamination on his left-rear tyre on stage three; fortunately, the tyre did not puncture, avoiding a major setback.
Oliver Solberg, who had been leading the rally, fell well outside the top ten after a puncture and technical problems. The morning loop, only four stages in, felt like a rollercoaster, and Pajari himself was surprised by the sheer number of incidents.
"We were talking in Finland about how much action and how many crashes we saw there. I think we have already seen almost the same amount here," Pajari said. "We knew this rally would be tricky and that many things could go wrong, but maybe we didn't expect quite this much to happen when we have only done four stages. The first three in particular were quite dramatic."
Pajari currently sits fourth, just 6.5 seconds behind rally leader Hayden Paddon of Hyundai. He is optimistic that conditions will be somewhat easier on the afternoon loop, although he had to deal with slippery roads and road cleaning due to an early starting position.
"We were lucky that we got away with it and managed to make it back to service. There is no doubt the team will fix the car," Pajari said confidently. With a relatively minor issue compared to his teammates, Pajari still has a strong chance to fight for a solid result in this long rally.
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