Driving a Finn does not go smoothly.
Sami Pajari wants to keep Takamoto Katsuta behind him. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
Sami Pajari fell out of the lead during Saturday morning’s special tests in the Canary Islands WC Rally.
Pajari started the asphalt rally in third place in the second of the day’s impact positions. The difference to the top was 15.9 seconds, so everything was still possible.
However, the Finn’s downfall started right away on the opening stretch of the morning, where he was the slowest of the Toyota drivers.
– The morning was difficult. The intention was to start right from the morning, but we knew we hadn’t run the first section last year, while most of the others had. So it was to be expected that it would be difficult to run the bottom time, but the feeling was good, Pajari said.
After that, Pajar’s mood collapsed. The local rains made it difficult to drive in the last two special tests of the circuit, where Pajari was clearly behind the pace of the top.
The Toyota driver finally arrived at the day service in fourth place, but the gap to first place had already stretched to 44 seconds. In practice, he lost almost half a minute in three special tests.
– I simply lacked credit in difficult places where there were little surprises. I didn’t hit the next corners because I was worried about whether they were slippery or not, Pajari stated.
Badly lost
Pajari had already worried about his car’s adjustments at the end of Friday’s clips. In that regard, the situation had not progressed at least in a better direction.
– If I look back in time, yesterday was not so bad. Yesterday we maybe missed the last little step, but today has felt even stranger. I feel like I’m even more lost. It’s not a good thing, Pajari lamented.
Pajar has to find more striking ability somewhere, because teammate Takamoto Katsuta is right next to the Finn. Pajari doesn’t want to let the Japanese leading the World Series in front of him.
– I can’t confirm, because Taka is only a few seconds away. The difference is practically nothing when you consider that there is still a day and a half left. So now you can’t just cruise, Pajari said.
Three more special stages will be run on Saturday in Gran Canaria after the service break.
