To miss out on a world championship by a mere six points is the kind of statistic that keeps a driver awake at night. Yet as Sami Pajari reflects on the end of his campaign, the overwhelming feeling is not despair, but a stunning realization of how far he and co-driver Marko Salminen have traveled. Finishing third in the final standings, the duo collected three victories and nine podiums, stepping onto the rostrum more times than any other crew in the field.
That remarkable consistency kept them right in the hunt. Pajari headed into Rally Italia Sardegna as the nearest challenger to Elfyn Evans, sitting 17 points behind the championship leader, and kept his mathematical hopes alive all the way to the final day. Ultimately, the crown went to Evans and Scott Martin after a frantic Wolf Power Stage showdown with Oliver Solberg, but Pajari's trajectory compared to twelve months prior was nothing short of staggering.
I think one of the things is simply sometimes taking more risks,
"We lost it by only six points, so it was still very, very close," the 24-year-old said. "Still, we had a good season and we need to be happy. Three wins, nine podiums – more than anyone else, really. That's incredible."
It was an ascent that gathered serious steam after a disastrous retirement at Monte Carlo. Podium finishes in Sweden and Kenya immediately righted the ship, followed by a second place in Croatia and a third in the Canary Islands. Then came the breakthrough in Estonia, where Pajari drove a masterclass: leading from start to finish, sweeping 12 stages, and securing his maiden victory by 19.5sec over Solberg.
He didn't stop there. Consecutive triumphs on home soil in Finland and later in Paraguay cemented a historic feat, making Pajari and Salminen the first crew in WRC history to claim their first three career victories back-to-back. That wild streak hacked Evans' championship advantage down from 33 points after Estonia to just 20 after Paraguay, transforming an emerging frontrunner into an outright threat.
Looking back, Pajari knows exactly where the missing margin might be found for 2027. With the modern points structure doling out five points for Super Sunday and another five on the Wolf Power Stage, mastering the final day is critical. Having topped Super Sunday for the first time in Sardinia, the Finn is convinced he can dial up the aggression without stepping over the limit.
"I think one of the things is simply sometimes taking more risks," he explained. "Even today, we saw on some stages that I was taking a little bit more risk. For the first time, I won Super Sunday. So once again I proved to myself that I can be fast on Sundays. And even though I was fast, I wasn't crashing. So I need to be more confident and push even harder."
Naturally, the weight of those Sunday bonus points shaped the championship's final chapters, but Pajari isn't interested in playing what-ifs with the rulebook. Instead, he was quick to tip his hat to the champions. "I need to be very, very happy for Elfyn and Scott," he said. "I think it has been a long time coming for them. In a way, I feel that Oliver and I still have time. We are young, so we still have time to chase some titles in the future, which I think we most likely will both do."
