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After securing three consecutive victories in the World Rally Championship (WRC), Sami Pajari admitted he needs to thoroughly analyze his performance to understand the reason for his lack of pace at Rally Chile.
Wins in Estonia, Finland, and Paraguay solidified the Finn's position as Elfyn Evans' closest rival in the title fight, trailing by just 20 points with three rounds remaining in the season.
In Chile, however, Pajari struggled to replicate that speed. Heading into Sunday, he found himself in a solitary fifth place, 1 minute and 15.5 seconds behind leader and teammate Oliver Solberg. This performance meant the Toyota driver would lose valuable championship points to Evans, who was running second before the final day.
Pajari had been trying to recover from losing 17.8 seconds in the very first stage on Friday, which was run in wet and muddy conditions. On Saturday, he started 21.7 seconds behind the leader, hoping to stay in contention, but gradually fell further back, hampered by his road position on the dry gravel stages.
When asked why he was struggling in Chile, Pajari couldn't pinpoint a specific reason.
"That's a very good question. This time, we just haven't been able to set the fastest times. I think that's part of the sport. Even someone like Sebastien Ogier, who has won the world title nine times, doesn't win every rally. Of course, we need to look deeper to see what the problem is. I'm not saying there's a serious problem, but rather what the reasons are for losing time. We need to learn from this and try to be better in the future. It's tough. At least the driving was good on the second pass, but not enough to set the fastest times. In this position, it's like guessing. There's a discussion about road position, but does it explain all the lost time, or not? It's hard to say what's wrong," commented the young Finn.
Pajari stated that the four stages on Sunday could be crucial for his title hopes, as 10 bonus points were on offer.
"Of course, it could be really decisive. I really hope we can pick up some of those points, but at the same time, the battle at the top is very close, so anything can happen to anyone. The Power Stage is quite straightforward, but the other stage is completely new to everyone and quite tricky, so anything is possible," he said.
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