Enni Mälkönen and Sami Pajari scored their second victory in the season with a flaweless drive in Poland in the WRC2 class. The duo now moves up to second position in both the drivers and co-drivers championships ahead of their Rally1 debut in Finland later this year.
Finnish duo Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen once again showed their full potential at Rally Poland, scoring their second victory of the season with a flawless drive, moving up to P2 in both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships in WRC2.
With Oliver Solberg being fastest overnight after the first stages on Thursday, Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen made their way to the top spot on Friday, overcoming local hero Kajetan Kajetanowicz, who put in a stellar drive to stay within a 9-second gap behind the Finnish duo, followed by Josh McErlean in third.
On Saturday, the battle heated up between Pajari/Mälkönen and Kajetanowicz but was cut short as the Polish driver was forced to retire after sliding wide on the third stage and damaging the rear suspension.
This left the Finnish duo more than 30 seconds clear in the lead, with Solberg going fast to reduce the gap as much as he could throughout the day, finishing Saturday behind Pajari and Mälkönen in second. Behind him, Robert Virves "passed" McErlean for third.
In addition to their WRC2 campaign, Sami and Enni also lead the WRC2 Challenger class after Saturday. As a noteworthy mention in the WRC Master Cup, Armin Kremer, co-driven by his daughter Ella, is leading the class by more than 2 minutes ahead of Michał Sołowow.
Sunday didn't change anything for the leading Finnish duo, with Pajari/Mälkönen securing their second victory of the season after their newly announced Rally1 drive later this year in Finland. The team took no risks, cruising through the four-stage day and winning with a 22-second lead over Solberg and Virves.
Sami moved up to second in the drivers' championship, with a three-point gap to leader Yohan Rossel. Enni, on the other hand, is now leading the co-drivers' championship ahead of Elliott Edmondson, who co-drives for Oliver Solberg this season.
Pajari and Mälkönen also won the WRC2 Challenger series and scored the FORUM8 WRC2 Most Stage Wins award.
Armin and Ella Kremer won the WRC Masters Cup, now leading the championship by 12 points.
The next rally will take place at WRC Tet Rally Latvia from July 18th to 21st, while Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen will drive in Rally1 at Rally Finland from August 1st to 4th.
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