Sami Pajari suffered a significant setback in SS8 of Rally Chile after previously running competitively in fifth place. The Toyota driver lost 13.2 seconds to teammate Sebastien Ogier on the Lota stage, further dropping him behind his rivals.
The incident occurred when Pajari's Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 ran wide at a left-hand corner and the rear hit the bank. However, the impact did not damage the car and Pajari was able to continue. "It's so difficult. One place was like ice and we slid into the bank. We were lucky with that one. My confidence was not the best after that. But still it is not good enough," Pajari said.
Meanwhile, Sebastien Ogier continued his impressive form. The Frenchman is now third overall, just 2.1 seconds behind second place. "It was a good stage again. I tried to follow the line as well as possible," Ogier said.
Toyota dominates the top three with Oliver Solberg leading by 7.2 seconds over Elfyn Evans. Ogier is 9.3 seconds off the lead. Adrien Fourmaux of Hyundai is fourth, just 13.5 seconds behind Solberg. However, Pajari is now more than half a minute adrift.
On the other hand, Esapekka Lappi of Hyundai moved up to sixth after his rivals encountered problems. Jon Armstrong of M-Sport Ford rolled his car in SS8 and dropped out of the top ten. With four stages remaining on Saturday, the competition is still open.
Rally Chile standings after SS8/16:
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