“We’ve lived all our lives just close by and kind of the heritage and the culture of rallying here is so strong, and we have all seen those old videos from the Group B times and so on, Juha [Kankkunen] and Ari [Vatanen], and all these many, many others, but these guys driving there. And in a way, then, one day you are kind of one of them.
“And even more special, like now, just when we crossed the finish line, there was Juha and Ari congratulating me. So it’s really special.”
Pajari saw Vatanen before the powerstage, as well as at the end of it.
“He was feeling really happy for me and for the performance,” Pajari shared. “And he hugged me and I told him I’ll take it easy, it’s one more stage. But he was like, no, no, no, no worries. It’s like, you have already done it. So it’s OK, it will be fine. It was like that.
“So maybe I got relief of the pressure even more because of him, but that was very kind.”