WRC
Pajari leads Paddon after punishing Paraguay Friday
Fireworks lit up Encarnación for Thursday evening’s ceremonial start, but there were plenty more on the stages when ueno Rally del Paraguay burst into life on Friday.
Sami Pajari emerged from a punishing opening day in South America with an 11.9sec advantage over Hayden Paddon after a dramatic Friday in which the lead changed hands repeatedly.
The Finn, chasing a third consecutive FIA World Rally Championship victory after triumphs in Estonia and Finland, started the afternoon loop fourth overall and 33.2sec off the lead but capitalised as tyre problems continued to strike almost every Rally1 contender.
By the end of eight stages, Pajari headed Paddon with championship leader Elfyn Evans 56.3sec adrift in third. Adrien Fourmaux completed the top four despite enduring his own catalogue of trouble.
Paddon had been the unlikely midday leader after surviving a brutal opening loop better than most, but his 23.9sec advantage began to shrink immediately after service.
Fourmaux set the pace on the second pass of Cambyreta before doing so again on Nueva Alborada, where Paddon suffered a front-right delamination. The delay was enough to hand Evans the rally lead by the slender margin of 0.5sec.
It proved short-lived.
The second run through the rally’s longest test, 33.88km Yerbatera, brought another wave of issues. Evans’ right-rear tyre began delaminating and eventually disintegrated completely, forcing the Welshman to nurse his GR Yaris Rally1 to the finish on the rim.
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Pajari, meanwhile, completed the stage without drama and was fastest by 0.1sec from Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg.
Paddon also reached the finish with a delaminated left-rear tyre, dropping 20.8sec to Pajari, but did enough to retain second place.
“It was very clean for me,” Pajari explained. “I think it is lottery if you take the puncture or not. I need to be happy with how we did.
“It is still early in this rally and a lot of things have happened already.”
Pajari carried a 12.4sec advantage into the evening’s short Autódromo Alfredo Scheid super special and surrendered only half a second there to close out Friday 11.9sec ahead.
After overcoming a water leak and tyre delamination during the morning, simply reaching the overnight halt at the head of the field represented a considerable achievement.
“After all the crazy things we are quite well in the standings, but it is only Friday done,” he said. “I think the days to come are the most demanding days. For the moment we are quite okay.”
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Paddon’s second place remains equally remarkable on his first top-level WRC gravel appearance since 2018.
The Hyundai driver led a WRC rally for the first time since Rally de Portugal that same year and, despite suffering tyre trouble on both Nueva Alborada and Yerbatera during the afternoon, remains firmly in victory contention.
“I think everyone’s had problems, so if we can drive out of two stages on punctures and still be within touching distance, we’ve been unlucky but lucky at the same time,” he reflected.
“Tough day, and the scary thing is I think this is going to be the easiest day of the rally.”
Evans holds third, 44.4sec behind Paddon, having remarkably suffered tyre delaminations on both passes of Yerbatera. The championship leader had briefly taken control of the rally on SS6 before his second problem undid much of his progress.
Fourmaux sits fourth and 1min 51.3sec back despite arguably being Friday’s fastest driver when trouble stayed away. The Frenchman won four of the day’s eight stages, but lost almost 90 seconds changing a tyre on the morning Yerbatera and then completed its afternoon repeat with both rear tyres deflated.
“You know me, I will not give up,” he insisted. “I will push to the end and see where we can be.”
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Josh McErlean completes the top five. The M-Sport Ford driver had been second at midday and remained only 9.8sec from the lead after SS6, before stopping to change a wheel on Yerbatera and dropping more than two minutes.
Home favourite Diego Domínguez produced one of the performances of the day to hold sixth overall and lead WRC2 by 39.4sec from Gus Greensmith, who sits seventh.
Solberg is eighth, 3min 33.3sec from the lead, after his promising start unravelled on the first Yerbatera when his engine stalled under braking and wouldn’t restart. Spectators eventually push-started his Toyota before a subsequent puncture added further delay.
The attrition began much earlier. Takamoto Katsuta rolled just two kilometres into the rally’s opening stage, Thierry Neuville retired after damaging the left-rear suspension of his Hyundai on the same test and reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier’s day ended on SS3 after a temporary suspension repair failed.
Heavy rain is anticipated for Saturday’s leg, which brings another 137.34km across nine stages, including the completely new Bella Vista Sur test and an evening super special on the Encarnación Costanera.
