The WRC Rally Sweden, which began on Thursday, saw a tight battle for the podium positions in the WRC2 class right until the end of the final stage on Sunday. The fiercest competition for the top spots was between Sami Pajari and Georg Linnamäe, both driving the all new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 cars.
The rally kicked off on Thursday evening in Umeå with a spectator stage right near the city center, which was run in different forms altogether four times throughout the event. Pajari and his co-driver Enni Mälkönen from the Printsport team started with the third fastest time, while local hero Oliver Solberg set the pace. However, Pajari’s highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the longest jump in front of the sea of spectators.
“A 37-meter leap, it was quite something. Overall, I’m not entirely satisfied with my driving; I lost a few seconds in some corners, but at least we’ve got the rally well underway,” reflected Pajari after the stage.
The first full day of rallying in Sweden, Friday, brought challenging weather conditions, with heavy snowfall overnight, making it the talking point among both drivers and spectators. The difficult conditions were evident as even world champions like Kalle Rovanperä and Ott Tänak struggled with the snow and its fall. As such, the morning loop was somewhat mixed, with some clean driving but also wider than sought for lines in many corners. After the difficult loop, Pajari and Mälkönen were in second place, trailing Solberg by just under 20 seconds.
“Quite a morning; it seemed like many had their fair share of problems. We had some clean runs, starting to get into the mood slowly,” reflected Pajari.
However, the second loop on Friday started on a sour note as Pajari accidentally stalled the engine at the start of a stage. The afternoon and evening were extremely challenging for the drivers due to even thicker snowfall. An interesting aspect of Friday’s stages was that the road cleared for the competitors far behind the lead crews; notably, the top five times on the same stage were all set by WRC2 crews. By the end of Friday, Pajari had dropped to third in his class, trailing Linnamäe by just under 16 seconds.
“I probably made one of the dumbest mistakes ever by stalling the car at start. Due to the heavy snowfall on the second-to-last stage, we had to drive without additional lights in the darkness just to see something in there. We were really relying only on the pace notes. Definitely one of the most challenging stages I’ve ever done,” reflected Pajari on the possible impacts of the weather conditions.
Saturday started with a strong attack, and the gap to Linnamäe shrank by over 10 seconds in one go. Applying pressure paid off, and Linnamäe spun on the final stage of the morning loop, allowing Pajari to reclaim second place in WRC2, though now with Roope Korhonen close behind.
“There was much less grip than I expected, so we had quite a few sideways moments. Not nearly perfect, but at least Enni seems to be enjoying it,” smiled Pajari as the TV audiences kept witnessing a cheerful Mälkönen at each stage end.
At the end of Saturday’s stages, tire conservation in the right places became a crucial part of the success strategy.
On the first stage after the mid-day service break, Pajari and Mälkönen set the fastest time in their class, increasing their lead over their closest pursuers by a few seconds. The proper forest stages were relatively controlled, but on the third pass through the Umeå spectator stage, a strong attack from the fellow Estonian driver threatened their position. Pajari and Mälkönen headed into Sunday clinging to second place by just 0.2 seconds.
“I kind of expected this; maybe I should have driven more cautiously on the earlier stages, but here we are, Sunday is still going to be a long day,” pondered Pajari before the final day.
The three stages on Sunday offered 61 agonizing kilometers of battling for seconds and tenths. The opening stage went well compared to their nearest challenger; the gap increased by 3.8 seconds, and once again, tire strategy was a big consideration.
“A pretty good start; we followed our tire strategy so we didn’t use all our best tires for this stage. If we were faster than our main rivals, then it went really well,” said Pajari before the day’s only service.
The penultimate stage of the rally saw a repeat of the long Västervik stage from the start of the day, and this time Pajari set the second fastest time, with Linnamäe fighting valiantly but falling short by just 0.8 seconds. With just one more pass through the Umeå stage to go, the stakes were high as the gap was still only 4.8 seconds in Pajari’s favor. They held up well under pressure, and although Linnamäe closed the gap slightly on the final stage, second place was secured for the Finns by a margin of 2.5 seconds.
“It was a tough stage, even slipperier than expected. Overall, a challenging rally, and I’m very grateful for the second place, both for us and the team. The car is fast and reliable. With a few tweaks, we’ll be even stronger going forward. This is a good starting point for the upcoming events,” concluded Pajari.
Pajari collected 18 WRC2 championship points in Sweden, putting him in a tie for third place with Spain’s Pepe Lopez. Additionally, Pajari and Lopez share the lead in the WRC2 Challenger class, each having one win and 25 points. Their sixth place finish in overall classification also earned Pajari six world rally championship points.
Results – WRC2
1. Oliver Solberg SWE 2:38:09,1 Skoda
2. Sami Pajari & Enni Mälkönen FIN +1:19,7 Toyota
3. Georg Linnamäe EST +1:22,2 Toyota
4. Roope Korhonen FIN +1:43,9 Toyota
5. Mikko Heikkilä FIN +2:21,5 Toyota