WRC
Pajari's hat-trick or Ogier's ninth crown?
Sami Pajari made history with the opening three victories of his WRC career. Sébastien Ogier reached a record-equalling ninth title. Which achievement gets your vote?
Two very different routes into the WRC record books meet in Rally1 Rewind, as Sami Pajari's breakthrough winning streak faces Sébastien Ogier's ninth world title.
Pajari and Marko Salminen achieved something no crew had managed before with their first three outright victories. Ogier and Vincent Landais, meanwhile, emerged from a demanding Saudi Arabian finale with a championship which drew the Frenchman level with Sébastien Loeb.
Pajari wins three in a row
Pajari's maiden WRC win in Estonia was followed by a home victory in Finland. When he and Salminen reached the finish in Paraguay on 30 August, the sequence had become a record.
The Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 crew were the first in WRC history to take their opening three outright wins at consecutive rounds. The third success also brought Pajari within 20 points of championship leader Elfyn Evans.
© WRC
It had demanded a different approach from the fast roads of Estonia and Finland. Pajari managed an early water leak, worked his way into the lead and negotiated the bumps, rocks and changing conditions to finish 25.8sec ahead of Hayden Paddon.
“It was not about being flat-out all the time,” Pajari explained afterwards. The third win showed he could combine the speed of his first two successes with the judgement to handle a very different gravel challenge.
Ogier claims his ninth world title
Ogier arrived at the inaugural Rally Saudi Arabia three points behind team-mate Elfyn Evans. By the finish, he had turned that deficit into a four-point championship victory.
The desert event tested both contenders with road cleaning and tyre damage. The decisive swing came on the penultimate Asfan stage, where Ogier outpaced Evans and moved up to third overall as others hit trouble.
Third place, together with his final-day points, was enough to secure title number nine and Landais' first co-drivers' crown. Ogier had won six of his 11 starts during a selected programme, four years after his previous championship.
© WRC
“I never thought that this moment of a ninth title would come,” he admitted. Loeb's record had stood alone since 2012. Now two French drivers shared the highest championship total in the sport's history.
Vote below before 08:00 CET on 10 November. One moment advances to the quarter-finals. Voting continues tomorrow, when Kalle Rovanperä's youngest-champion milestone meets Hayden Paddon's WRC podium comeback.
