Sami Pajari immediately drove the bottom time in the first rally1 competition. Ralliradio expert Henri Haapamäki sums up the importance of the quote for the youngster’s career.
Micke Suopuro,
Jussi Jäkälä,
Pertti Lappalainen
22:21•Updated 22:47
Ruuhimäki’s second bet on the Friday driving day of the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship will go down in history. Sami Pajari, 22, set the fastest time on his rally1 debut. This made the young man smile at the finish line of Harju’s special test.
Ruuhimäki is one of the absolute classics of the Finnish World Rally Championship.
And classics are also raced on Saturday rally day.
Tomorrow the soles in Ouninpohja?
– It sounds pretty wild, but they came to Ruuhimäki, so why not Ouninpohja. I still have to say Timo Salonen 1981 At the finish line of Ruuhimäki, “I hung up the gas, then I had to go hard” – we had a bit of the same thing, Pajari laughed in an interview with Ralliradio.
Salonen is one of the legends of the Jyväskylä rally. With his victory in Jyväskylä in 1985, he also secured the world championship.
Pajari set the record time as the tenth youngest driver ever. However, it is not worth staring at record statistics. What is more important is that Pajari was able to grab the bottom time right away in his opening race and again in the World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä, where the experience advantage is on the side of the others.
– All the drivers contributed today, and Ruuhimäki is still the Finnish World Rally Championship at its best. Still the fastest time, that is, you’ll get rid of the bumps, says Haapamäki.
Pajar’s morning was ruined due to a spin, as he had to drive the morning without a rear wing. An afternoon’s success changed everything.
– The team, the supporters and Pajari himself received confirmation that the abilities are sufficient to drive for victory in competitions in the future. There are a lot of drivers who could be given such a car, and they wouldn’t even drive in ten rallies to pass the special forest test, Haapamäki reminds.
Pajari, who has driven two class wins this season with rally2 equipment, has already become known as a wise and flawless driver. Pajar’s natural speed emerged even more brightly when switching to a rally1 car.
Pajari also stole the spotlight back from this year’s other rally1 debutant from Martins Seskswhich flashed in prime time in Latvia.
– A big thing in getting to the top is adopting new driving styles and cars. Pajari has shown the same as Sesks in Latvia: rally1 cars can be taken over even in a short time, says Haapamäki.
Pajari explains: “It came naturally”
The driver aired his low time at the finish line happily, but the emotions had already subsided in the service park.
– It feels really good. An exciting day all in all, Pajari recounted his eventful day to in the service park.
From his time in Pohja, he stated that he didn’t particularly try to attack at Ruuhimäki EK.
– When the weather was better, it really came naturally. I don’t feel that I tried to go to Ruuhimäki to run the base time. When credit is found, it kind of comes naturally, analyzes Pajari.