Pajari has high hopes for his Rally1 return

The 22-year-old returns to Toyota's factory team as a replacement for the rested Takamoto Katsuta on the final gravel round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship. Twelve months ago, competing in South America for the first time, he netted eighth overall as well as a third-place WRC2 finish aboard a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.

Talking about his approach to the week ahead, Pajari said: “I’m really excited to get back in the Rally1 car in Chile. I hope it can be a really enjoyable event for me. I competed in Chile for the first time last year in WRC2 and the pace was quite good. The roads there are nice and a bit similar to some of the stages in Finland: mostly quite fast and flowing, with of course some specific challenges as well

"There's traditionally been a lot of road sweeping in this rally, so those starting at the front will act as the cleaners and suffer accordingly," Pajari continued. "On the first pass, tyre wear isn't much of an issue, but some stages are particularly abrasive on the second run. We'll certainly need to consider these factors carefully, especially with the new [for 2024] stages. It's not a problem per se, but it's something we need to account for."

And, on his aspirations for a result, he looked back to that memorable debut in Jyväskylä.

“I’m hoping I can have a similar weekend like in Finland,” he said. “I try to enjoy the driving and get better with every kilometre – and not feel any pressure in terms of the result. The main thing is just to get more experience in this car and all the seat time that I can.”