“We knew it was coming, there was no doubt, but now we have done it.”
Sami Pajari always had the belief he could, but now he’s officially a World Rally Championship winner.
Recording victory at Rally Estonia by 19.5 seconds, the Finn won 12 of the rally’s 18 stages to lead the event from start to finish, scoring his sixth podium finish of the season – more than any other driver in the field.
He summed up his immediate emotions to DirtFish.
“Of course it was just a really big joy, big enjoyment, big relief to cross the finish line,” he said.
“But actually in this rally, maybe the distance from the flying finish to the stop control was maybe the shortest ever in any rally, because it was just after this really tight corner.
“So normally you like cruise slowly to the stop control and then you can already discuss with the team and with Marko [Salminen, co-driver] and then you kind of prepare for whatever there is waiting for you at the stop control. But this time it was like really close and so everyone was like showing thumbs up so maybe we won. And then we just jump on the roof.”