Charging Ogier grabs WRC Rally Paraguay lead as Rovanpera punctures

Sebastien Ogier topped a masterful comeback drive to seize the Rally Paraguay lead after Toyota teammate Kalle Rovanpera hit trouble on Saturday’s penultimate stage.

Ogier (above) started Saturday’s second leg fourth overall and 17.8s behind overnight leader Rovanpera after losing time to a Friday puncture in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. But the eight-time WRC champ delivered a masterclass in tactical rallying to emerge with a 10.3s advantage over Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux heading into Sunday's final four stages.

Ogier's charge gathered momentum throughout Saturday as his tactical gamble of carrying only one spare tire versus his rivals' two began to pay dividends. The weight advantage helped him win three of the day's seven special stages, passing Fourmaux’s i20 N Rally1 on the leaderboard, before inheriting the lead when Rovanpera struck trouble.

Paraguay is making its FIA World Rally Championship debut, and the rally’s clay and gravel stages are something of a journey into the unknown for the WRC regulars. Despite not feeling completely satisfied with his performance, Rovanpera had controlled the rally since the end of leg one and extended his lead through Saturday's morning loop of stages. But a front-right puncture midway through the second pass of the 14.38-mile Artigas stage destroyed his weekend and dropped him to sixth overall, more than two minutes back from new leader Ogier. 

Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera had stretched his lead through Saturday, before puncturing on the day’s final stage. Red Bull Content Pool

"Of course, it's a shame to see your teammate having a puncture, and it's not the way you want to take the lead, but it looks like every frontrunner has had trouble except (current WRC points leader) Elfyn (Evans)," said Ogier. "Since our puncture yesterday we have pushed all the time and maximized everything, so I think we can be happy with that. It's nice we managed to come back where we are now, but it's definitely not over."

Fourmaux held second overnight despite battling damper problems on the final two stages that saw him “lacking control of the chassis and the grip” and hampered his ability to challenge fellow Frenchman Ogier's pace. Should Fourmaux maintain his position, it will be a career-best WRC finish for the Hyundai driver.  

Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux is just four stages away from securing a career-best WRC finish, second overall. Getty Images

Fourmaux’s teammate, Ott Tanak, mounted his own recovery drive after starting the day second overall before dropping to sixth after suffering a rear-left puncture on the morning's longest stage, Artigas 1. The Estonian fought back through the afternoon to move into fourth overall, ending the day just 2.5s behind Evans’ GR Yaris.

Making it three Hyundais in the top five, Thierry Neuville is just 7.7s behind Tanak with the Toyotas of Rovanpera and Sami Pajari in sixth and seventh. 

That completed the Rally1 crews after M-Sport Ford drivers Josh McErlean and Gregoire Munster both retired their Puma Rally1s with impact damage suffered at the same place in the morning’s opening stage.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Robert Virves seized the class lead after a dramatic day that saw Oliver Solberg climb from sixth to second with fastest time on all seven of the day’s stages. 

Skoda Fabia RS driver Virves took advantage of Nikolay Gryazin's late wheel change on his Skoda to move into the category lead by 6.5s over the recovering Solberg. Virves had battled with Yohan Rossel’s Citroen C3 for second throughout the day, before seizing control when Gryazin hit trouble on the penultimate test.

Solberg produced Saturday's standout WRC2 performance in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. The Swede had lost time with a Friday puncture, but climbed from sixth in class to within striking distance of victory after his Saturday clean sweep. He now trails Virves by just over six seconds heading into Sunday's finale.

"It's been a proper day,” said Solberg. “We won every single stage and, yeah, definitely yesterday when I had the puncture I didn't expect to be back in this position.”

Rossel ended the leg seven-tenths of a second back from Solberg after dropping behind the Swede on the final stage, with Gryazin more than a minute and a half behind in fourth after his troubles.

In WRC2, Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 driver Oliver Solberg earned a clean sweep of Saturday stage wins. Red Bull Content Pool

Rally Paraguay concludes on Sunday with four stages totaling 50.16 competitive miles, including the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage – a second pass through the 11.5-mile Mision Jesuitica Trinidad test.

WRC Rally Paraguay, positions after Saturday/Leg Two, SS15
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h17m20.5s
2 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +10.3s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +36.6s
4 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +39.1s
5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +46.8s
6 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m21.2s
7 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3m16.2s
8 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +5m30.8s
9 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +5m37.3s
10 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +5m38.0s
 

• Watch the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage action from Rally Paraguay on the RACER+ App and RACER Network on Sunday, Aug. 31, noon-1:30 p.m. ET, with same-day re-airs on the RACER Network at 8:30 p.m. ET and 10:30 p.m. ET. 

Plus, for a deeper dive into the FIA World Rally Championship, check out the WRC Magazine Show on RACER Network. Catch the latest episode on Sunday, Aug. 31 at 8:00 p.m. ET and 10:00 p.m. ET.  

You can find out more about the RACER+ App at racerplus.com