TIED TIMES IN WRC2
After more than 300 kilometres of competitive stages, Sami Pajari and Robert Virves couldn’t be split on overall times in the battle for the WRC2 honours, with the victory decided on countback. Toyota protege Pajari took the spoils by comparing head-to-head times recorded on stage one on Friday. On this occasion, Pajari beat Virves by 19.7 seconds to seal the win.
Fellow title contender Yohan Rossel had dominated the opening five stages in his Citroen C3 Rally2 to build a lead of 46.5s from Pajari. But a puncture on stage six cost the Frenchman two minutes.
Virves, only competing in Greece following a successful crowdfunding project that raised €50,000, set a blistering time on stage six to leap from fourth into a 1.5s lead. On Saturday, Pajari snatched the lead by outpacing the Skoda of Virves by 16.3s on stage nine, before ending the day with a 27.7s advantage, after Virves suffered a puncture on stage 11.
Heading into Sunday’s final stage, Pajari had a 28.5s margin but a puncture hampered his progress, and he crossed the finish with exactly the same overall time as Virves to the tenth. “This is a good reminder that even if you are having issues you should keep pushing, every hundredth of a second counts,” grinned Pajari, who trails points leader Oliver Solberg (who wasn’t competing in Greece) by three points.
Virves added: “For sure it’s not the ideal situation but overall I can be happy with how we managed the season.”
Rossel recovered to finish third to keep his title hopes alive. But Solberg can claim the championship if he wins in Chile later this month.
FIA Rally Star-funded driver Romet Jurgenson will graduate to WRC2 next year after wrapping up the Junior WRC at his first attempt, finishing second in class behind Norbert Maior. “Three years ago when I first saw this programme I was thinking this is my chance and now we are champions,” proclaimed the Estonian.