Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen's second outing with Toyota's Rally1 machinery yielded a sixth-place finish in the Chilean round of the World Rally Championship. Throughout the event, conditions shifted dramatically—from bright sunshine to dense fog and rain. Their objective of reaching the finish intact was achieved, and they amassed substantial experience in exceptionally demanding driving conditions.
Friday commenced under clear skies, with the day's special stages familiar from the previous year. The Pajari-Mälkönen duo navigated the day risk-free, concluding the opening leg impressively in fourth place. They trailed their teammate Elfyn Evans, who held the lead, by a mere 12.2 seconds.
"A good day—very clean. No major mistakes. Perhaps a bit cautious in places, but overall, a very good day. There's still two days of rallying ahead," reflected Pajari after Friday's efforts.
Saturday's special stages were considerably slower in average speed compared to Friday's. Besides acclimatising to the slower roads, they also had to manage tyre wear. Over the first three stages of the day, gaps began to widen to the more experienced Rally1 drivers.
When the same stages were repeated in the afternoon, the pace clearly improved. Pajari felt he was beginning to get the hang of the slower terrain. "It went better now, as you start to understand how you need to drive," he summarised at the start of the afternoon.
At this point, competitors faced an unexpected challenge: dense fog enveloped the penultimate stage, putting drivers in a difficult position. With no need to take unnecessary risks, Pajari's crew opted for caution. "There was a lot more fog than I anticipated, even though I knew it would be foggy," reported Pajari at the stage finish.
The next special stage compounded the difficulty, adding rainfall to the fog—a new hurdle at Saturday's close. On the final special stage, they found enough confidence to turn the battle for sixth place against Luxembourg's Grégoire Munster in their favour.
"There are many places where I'd like to go faster, but I don't want to take risks in these conditions, so we'll just get through cleanly," mused Pajari on the radical weather change.
Sunday featured two special stages, each run twice, in the coastal mountain region—the same area as Saturday's foggy routes. Parts of the second stage had even been driven in the previous day's fog. The final day's weather was exceedingly wet from the morning, with sizable puddles on the opening stage, and the fog persisted. Again, they saw no need to take risks.
"Something new for me again. Challenging weather, and we came through cleanly once more. In many places, you could go faster, but you could see traces where others ahead had gone off the road," recounted Pajari about Sunday's rain-soaked opening stage.
Conditions remained foggy on the following stage. "I might be repeating myself, but it's still challenging. I try to push when it's clearer and the conditions permit.
"When they tackled Sunday's opening stage for the second time, the fog had slightly lifted. However, it partly came down to luck regarding how the wind affected the fog for each driver. "A rather enjoyable stage, even though the grip is quite minimal. The conditions were better and more consistent throughout.
"Before the rally-concluding Power Stage, Esapekka Lappi's retirement pushed up Pajari's crew into the points for Sunday's leg. On the final stage the fog had significantly cleared, and the road surface was no longer wet. "It was a really nice special stage to end the rally. A big thank you to the team for allowing us to drive this car again. On Friday, the pace was good, and we were able to showcase some speed. After that, we primarily focused on learning in challenging conditions. There's no rush with the speed, of course, and hopefully, we'll be able to show it again in the future. I hear it's still quite busy on the WRC2 side as well," said Pajari at the finish, unaware of the outcome in the WRC2 class battle.
Pajari and Mälkönen's rally season continues at the Central European Rally in mid-October with the Rally1 car. After that, only the season-ending WRC Rally Japan remains in late November, where the WRC2 class championship is at stake. With Oliver Solberg finishing fourth in Chile and Yohan Rossel taking the victory, it has been confirmed that the champion's name will ultimately be decided in Japan.
Results - Rally Chile
1. Kalle Rovanperä FIN 2:58:59.8 Toyota
2. Elfyn Evans GBR +23.4 Toyota
3. Ott Tänak EST +43.9 Hyundai
4. Thierry Neuville BE +1:01.1 Hyundai
5. Adrien Fourmaux FRA +2:02.7 Ford
6. Sami Pajari & Enni Mälkönen FIN +2:39.7
Sami Pajari Media Team
