Pajari leads part-timer Paddon after punishing WRC Rally Paraguay Friday

Toyota’s Sami Pajari (above) ended a punishing opening day of WRC Rally Paraguay with an 11.9s advantage over Hyundai part-timer Hayden Paddon after a dramatic Friday in which the lead changed hands repeatedly.

The 24-year-old Finn, chasing a third consecutive FIA World Rally Championship victory after victories in Estonia and Finland, started the afternoon loop fourth overall and 33.2s off the lead, but capitalized as tire problems continued to strike almost every leading contender.

By the end of the day’s eight all-gravel special stages, Pajari headed Paddon, with WRC points leader and Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans 56.3s adrift in third.

Adrien Fourmaux’s Hyundai completed the top four despite the Frenchman enduring his own catalogue of troubles as the first rally of the WRC’s South American double header did its best to take down the whole of the Rally1 field.

Paddon, in only his fourth WRC start of the season, had been the unlikely midday leader in his factory i20 N Rally 1 after surviving a brutal opening loop better than most, but the New Zealander’s 23.9s advantage began to shrink immediately after service.

Fourmaux set the pace on the second pass of the 15.32-mile Cambyreta test before doing so again on the 9.73 miles of Nueva Alborada 2, where Paddon suffered a front-right delamination. The delay was enough to hand Evans the rally lead by the slender margin of 0.5s.

It proved short-lived.

The second run through the rally’s longest test, 21.05-mile Yerbatera, brought another wave of issues. Evans’ right-rear tire began delaminating and eventually disintegrated completely, forcing the Welshman to nurse his GR Yaris Rally1 to the finish on the rim.

Pajari, meanwhile, completed the stage without drama and was fastest by 0.1s from another Toyota teammate, Oliver Solberg.

Paddon also reached the finish with a delaminated left-rear tire, dropping 20.8s to Pajari, but did enough to retain second place.

“It was very clean for me,” Pajari explained. “I think it is a lottery if you take the puncture or not. I need to be happy with how we did. But it’s still early in this rally and a lot of things have happened already.”

Pajari carried a 12.4s advantage into the evening’s leg-ending, short Autodromo Alfredo Scheid super special and surrendered only half a second there to close out Friday 11.9s ahead.

After overcoming a water leak and – of course – a tire 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 doing quite well in the standings, but it is only Friday done,” said Pajari. “I think the days to come are the most demanding ones. For the moment we are quite OK.”

Paddon’s second place remains equally remarkable on his first top-level WRC gravel appearance since 2018 (all of his 2026 events so far have been on asphalt). He led a WRC rally for the first time since Rally Portugal that same year and, despite suffering the obligatory tire trouble on both Nueva Alborada and Yerbatera during the afternoon, remains firmly in victory contention.

It’s Hayden Paddon’s first top-tier WRC gravel start since 2018, but the Hyundai part-timer led early Friday before finishing the leg in second overall.

“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. “Anyway, a tough day – and the scary thing is I think this is going to be the easiest day of the rally.”

Evans holds third, 44.4s behind Paddon, having suffered tire delaminations on both passes of Yerbatera. Despite running first on the road and sweeping the surface for the cars behind, the championship leader had briefly taken control of the rally on Nueva Alborada 2 before his second tire issue undid much of his progress.

Fourth-placed Fourmaux sits 1m51.3s off the lead despite arguably being Friday’s fastest driver when trouble stayed away. His i20 N Rally1 won four of the day’s eight stages, but he lost almost 90 seconds changing a tire on the morning pass through Yerbatera and then completed its afternoon repeat with both rear tires deflated.

You know me, I will not give up,” he insisted. “I will push to the end and see where we can be.”

Josh McErlean completes the top five. The leading M-Sport Ford driver had been second at midday and remained only 9.8s from the lead after Nueva Alborada 2, before stopping to change a wheel on Yerbatera 2 and dropping more than two minutes.

Josh McErlean ran as high as second, but finished leg one a still-impressive fifth overall in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1.

Solberg is eighth overall, 3m33.3s from the lead after his promising start unraveled on Yerbatera 1 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 his GR Yaris Rally1 just over a mile into the rally’s opening stage, Thierry Neuville retired his Hyundai after damaging the left-rear suspension on the same test, and nine-time and reigning WRC champ Sebastien Ogier’s day ended on the morning’s third stage after a temporary suspension repair to his GR Yaris failed.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, local hero Diego Dominguez ended the day with a 39.4 lead over Gus Greensmith after a Friday of heavy attrition on the red-earth roads around Encarnacion. The Paraguayan holds an impressive sixth place in the overall classification.

Dominguez’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 was never completely immune from the problems which swept through the field. A front-left puncture struck late on the second pass of Nueva Alborada, but his advantage over Greensmith’s similar machine actually grew to 31.6s there, before reaching 39.4s by the end of the day.

“It has been my dream since last year,” said Dominguez after the leg-ending Autodromo Alfredo Scheid test. “It’s really unbelievable. We just enjoy it. Never stop enjoying it, just keep driving.”

For local hero Diego Dominguez, leading WRC2 in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 is a dream come true. Can he hold on for two more days?

Heavy rain is anticipated for Saturday’s second leg, which brings another 85.34 competitive miles across nine special stages, including the completely new, 13.14-mile Bella Vista Sur test and a beachside evening super special on the Encarnacion Costanera.

WRC Rally Paraguay, positions after Friday/Leg One, SS8


1. Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1h28m28.7s

2. Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +11.9s

3. Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +56.3s

4. Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m51.3s

5. Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m23.1s

6. Diego Dominguez/Rogelio Penate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 leader) +2m36.0s
7. Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +3m15.4s

8. Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3m33.3s
9. 
Marco Bulacia/Jose Murado (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +4m01.4s

10. Romet Jurgenson/Siim Oja (Ford Fiesta MkII – WRC2) +4m36.9s

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