WRC
Taka tops Paraguay Shakedown ahead of Hyundai trio
Takamoto Katsuta has beaten out a trio of Hyundai drivers to set the quickest time on Thursday morning’s ueno Rally del Paraguay Shakedown, attended by Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Katsuta was the only driver to break three minutes, completing his third run of the 5.60km Carmen del Paraná shakedown stage in 2min 59.5sec. By doing so, the Yaris GR Rally1 pilot eclipsed a trio of Hyundais which amazingly set an identical time of 3min 01.1sec.
Hayden Paddon impressed on his return to gravel
© At World
Hayden Paddon was the first of the trio to achieve the benchmark, doing so on his second run in his first competitive gravel outing in the Hyundai i20N Rally1. Paraguay also marks the New Zealander’s first top-level WRC start on gravel since 2018. Adrien Fourmaux soon followed suit whilst Thierry Neuville matched his team-mates on his third run.
Having podiumed in Croatia in just his second Rally1 start earlier this year, Paddon sent a strong message to his rivals at the completion of his opening run of shakedown, saying at stage end: “I’m a lot more confident on gravel in the car…I will enjoy tomorrow while it is dry…we will do the best we can and we will push. We are here to do that."
Thierry Neuville joined his Hyundai team-mates with an identical time
© At World
Championship leader Elfyn Evans was just a tenth of a second further back in fifth with the Welshman opting to only make two runs. He bet home the M-Sport Ford pairing of Jon Armstrong and Josh McErlean respectively, with Paraguay marking Armstrong’s first-ever start on South American soil.
Rounding out the top-ten were the Toyotas of Oliver Solberg, who had the honour of taking President Peña for a run through the shakedown stage, Sami Pajari and Séb Ogier. The 2025 winner Ogier opted for only one competitive run before inviting Paraguayan Vice-President Pedro Alliana aboard his Yaris for a co-drive.
