Sami Pajari and co-driver Marko Salminen secured a third-place finish at the WRC Rally Islas Canarias, which concluded on Sunday. The result marked their fourth consecutive podium finish of the season and lifted the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 duo to third place in the overall championship standings.
Following a strong performance in the previous round in Croatia, expectations were high heading into Gran Canaria, especially as Pajari has described the event as one of his favourites. The rally began on Thursday with a spectator stage inside a football stadium in Las Palmas, where tight turns contrasted sharply with the rest of the rally. The Finnish crew started strongly, setting the second fastest time, just behind championship leader Takamoto Katsuta.
Friday featured a loop of three stages run twice, followed by another run in the stadium. The opening stage suggested a dominant performance from Toyota drivers, with all five cars within just 2.2 seconds. The second stage was cancelled due to improperly parked spectator vehicles. Pajari set the third fastest time on the final stage of the morning loop and arrived at midday service in second place overall.
Despite the strong position, Pajari was not fully satisfied with the feeling in the car, and setup changes were made for the afternoon. However, these did not improve performance, and the leading duo of Sébastien Ogier and Oliver Solberg began to pull away. By the end of the day, Pajari moved back into third place after setting the fastest time on the stadium stage, overtaking Elfyn Evans.
“Today has not been too bad. The stages have been really nice to drive, but my feeling has maybe not been quite as good as I was hoping for. It’s an extremely tight fight with our team-mates and it was a pity to lose a bit of ground in the afternoon. We were making some changes with the setup and they weren’t all going in the perfect direction, and when the time differences are so small, even the slightest thing can create that gap. Still, we’re not too far away and just need to keep pushing.”
Saturday once again consisted of three stages run twice. The opening stage near Maspalomas was particularly challenging, as Pajari lacked recent competitive experience there following last year’s retirement. He lost four seconds to the fastest time. The next two stages included damp and even wet sections, causing time gaps to grow significantly and turning the battle into a fight for fourth place against Katsuta.
In the afternoon, conditions improved with dry asphalt, and Pajari’s pace increased accordingly. The gap to Katsuta behind nearly doubled from 5.8 to 10.4 seconds.
“It’s been another interesting day. I’m maybe a bit disappointed with my performance during the morning loop. For some reason, I just wasn’t able to find the confidence to push in those tricky conditions, and we lost way too much time. But we didn’t give up, we tried to maximize the afternoon loop and I think we did the best that we could. I hope we can maximize tomorrow as well. I’m looking forward to it and hope we have some nice weather so we can really enjoy the stages.”
Sunday featured two stages run twice, covering just over 78 kilometres. The battle for victory appeared to be between Ogier and Solberg, while Evans aimed to maximise Sunday points from third place. Overnight rain left the opening stage damp and partially wet. The top three were separated by just 1.3 seconds, while Pajari was fourth fastest but lost over 30 seconds to the leaders.
Conditions improved slightly on the second stage, keeping time gaps smaller. When the opening stage was run again, now in dry conditions, the standings were shaken up dramatically. Solberg, who had been in second place after winning the first two stages of the day, hit a barrier and retired.
This promoted Pajari back into a podium position. The final stage saw no major drama, and the Finnish crew secured third place overall. They also collected the third-highest points haul from Sunday, along with additional points from the Power Stage.
With the strong result, Pajari now sits third in the WRC championship standings, with Elfyn Evans moving into the lead ahead of Katsuta.
“Fourth podium in a row — that definitely feels good. Of course, I can’t be fully satisfied with the pace this weekend; it wasn’t what we expected. Thanks to the team — we’ll come back stronger next time,” Pajari summed up after the final stage.
The WRC season continues on gravel at Rally Portugal on May 7–10.