Sami Pajari delivered a solid performance on Friday, keeping ahead of world champion Elfyn Evans. However, the Finnish driver couldn't hide his disappointment after losing fourth place to teammate Sebastien Ogier on the final stage of the day.
Pajari had held fourth for a long time, but on Friday's final stage, Ogier overtook him by 10.2 seconds. Ogier now leads Pajari in the overall standings by a slim 2.8 seconds ahead of Saturday. Still, in the WRC title fight, Pajari did what he needed to do: he was faster than championship leader Elfyn Evans on every stage. Evans currently sits sixth, behind Pajari.
“When you look at our starting position and so on, we were clearly faster than Elfyn throughout. He was running ahead of us, and in a way it is normal for those coming from behind to be faster,” Pajari said. “Maybe you still don’t want to accept that and feel you should find more speed. In a way, I would have hoped for better, but perhaps the reality is simply that we can’t do any better at the moment.”
Pajari wasn't in disaster mode, but his hopes of fighting at the front haven't materialized. Oliver Solberg, currently third in the WRC standings, is the leading Toyota driver in the rally in third place. For Pajari to have a realistic chance of fighting for the title, he would need to be in contention at the front. Viewed in that light, the Finnish driver considered the day a disappointment.
“Well, how should I put it? Maybe, yes. I know that’s where I should be and where I should be aiming to be. But we weren’t taking things particularly cautiously. I can’t blame it on having approached it with a clearly cautious mindset,” he explained. “There simply wasn’t any more grip or speed. But hopefully we can find a little more speed tomorrow.”
As for his own level of risk, Pajari said it had been difficult to gauge because of the challenging conditions. “In a way, we know there were places where we could have taken some crazy risks, perhaps a little more. But when you look at our tyres, we didn’t have any punctures, although they were always starting to show damage after every stage. But I would emphasise that we weren’t taking things particularly cautiously today. I simply don’t know how much better we could realistically have done. It could be that if you push much harder, you get through one stage and then have a puncture on the next. Or you could get a puncture anyway. That’s just how it is,” Pajari concluded.
With this performance, Pajari remains on track to challenge Evans, but consistency and extra speed will be crucial in the remaining rally. The WRC battle is heating up, and every second counts.
Baca Juga
Thierry Neuville rebut pimpinan Rally Italia Sardegna dari Adrien Fourmaux, Hyundai 1-2. Pertarungan gelar WRC makin sengit setelah hari pertama.
Sami Pajari lebih cepat dari Elfyn Evans di WRC, tapi kecewa usai disalip Sebastien Ogier di stage terakhir. Simak analisis dan komentarnya.
Thierry Neuville merebut pimpinan Rally Sardinia dari Adrien Fourmaux dengan selisih tipis 0,4 detik. Elfyn Evans tetap memimpin klasemen WRC sementara.
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