Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 driver Sami Pajari, alongside co-driver Marko Salminen, secured a superb third place at the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship in Japan, celebrating his maiden Rally1 podium. The result sealed a triumphant Toyota 1-2-3 on home soil, with Sébastien Ogier – Vincent Landais taking victory ahead of Elfyn Evans – Scott Martin.
The rally, which began on Thursday evening, was initially led by Kalle Rovanperä – Jonne Halttunen in their Toyota. But by Friday morning’s opening test, the veteran Ogier — pursuing what would be a ninth world title — had asserted himself at the head of the field.
Rovanperä’s hopes of remaining in the title fight took a heavy blow on Friday’s second stage after brushing a barrier and causing substantial damage to the rear-left suspension. On that same test, Ford’s Josh McErlean was forced to retire after a heavy accident. Pajari’s standing, however, was earned on merit; he ended the day running in fourth place.
By Friday evening, Ogier held a slim advantage over Takamoto Katsuta and Evans, the trio split by just 10.2 seconds. Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux, who found extra pace as the day progressed, edged ahead of Pajari by three-tenths on the final stage.
“Not ideal to drop behind Fourmaux. Overall, though, a very good day — I’d just have liked to be a touch quicker. It was getting pretty dark in the forests. We’ll try to carry on well tomorrow,” Pajari said at the Friday finish.
Saturday’s pivotal moment came on Mt. Kasagi, when Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston, battling for the win, damaged the front corner of their Toyota in a chicane and lost power steering. Their misfortune promoted Pajari to fourth, where he ended the day, 45.4 seconds behind Ogier. His performance was impressively consistent: he lost 24.3 seconds to the eventual winner on Friday and 24.8 on Saturday.
“A really good day overall with some excellent sections — I have to be pleased. I did get a bit of a headache after we clipped a bank on the second stage of the morning and damaged the exhaust. The noise was incredible after that, and at times it was genuinely hard to hear the notes. Rain is expected for Sunday, so it could get very interesting.”
Sunday brought exactly that — heavy rain. One of its victims was Fourmaux, who slid off and tore away both right-side doors of his Hyundai, along with the co-driver’s time card. Though he reached the end of the stage, retirement was inevitable for safety reasons.
From that point on, Pajari’s maiden podium was his to lose. With a strong foundation built over Friday and Saturday, there was no need to take risks.
“Your first podium is always a big moment — and to do it as part of a Toyota 1-2-3 in the team’s home rally makes it even sweeter. We’ve shown strong pace at several events this year, close to podium-level, and now we’ve finally done it. The team has done tremendous work and shown we’re moving forward. The more experienced guys gave me a proper soaking on the podium — I’ll be amazed if I’m not ill on Monday after all that cold champagne in chilly weather — but it was definitely worth it!”
“We drove really well on the first two days and everything felt good. On Sunday suddenly there was no rush — we had a big gap behind, and pushing to match the leaders’ risk level would have made no sense. Smart driving was the priority.”
The final round of the World Rally Championship will take place in Saudi Arabia, 25–29 November.