Pajari leads as spate of punctures shake up leaderboard

Sami Pajari claimed the Rally Paraguay lead after emerging from a punishing opening day headlined by a series of punctures and crashes that shook up the World Rally Championship leaderboard.

Pajari and co-driver Marko Salminen, chasing a third WRC win after wins in Estonia and Finland, started the afternoon loop fourth overall and 33.2s from the lead. The Finnish pairing were delayed by a water leak on their GR Yaris in the morning, but ended the day as the only Rally1 crew to avoid the tyre problems that plagued Friday’s gravel stages.

Pajari capitalised on punctures and delaminations for Elfyn Evans and Hayden Paddon to vault into the lead, ending the day with an 11.9s advantage over Paddon. Championship leader Evans salvaged third, 56.3s in arrears.

“After all the crazy things we are quite well in the standings but it is only Friday done. I think the days to come are the most demanding days. For the moment we are quite ok,” said Pajari.

Paddon had emerged with a surprise rally lead at midday on his Rally1 gravel debut for Hyundai. It was the first time Paddon had led a rally since Portugal 2018.

The New Zealander took advantage of a hectic morning loop that witnessed retirements for team-mate Thierry Neuville (puncture, broken suspension), reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier (two punctures, broken suspension) and Takamoto Katsuta (roll).

Paddon’s trouble arrived on stage six (Nueva Alborada 2) as the Kiwi suffered a front-right tyre delamination. The delay was enough to hand Evans the rally lead by the slender margin of 0.5s.

But Evans’ time in the lead was short-lived as the second run through the rally’s longest test, 33.88km Yerbatera, brought another wave of tyre 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. Evans dropped from the lead to third.

Pajari, meanwhile, completed the stage without drama and was fastest by 0.1s 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.

Pajari carried a 12.4s advantage into the evening’s short Autódromo Alfredo Scheid super special to close out Friday 11.9s ahead of Paddon.

“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,” said Paddon.

“Tough day, and the scary thing is I think this is going to be the easiest day of the rally.”

Evans held third, 44.4s behind Paddon, having remarkably suffered tyre delaminations on both passes of Yerbatera.

Hayden Paddon, John Kennard, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux completed the day in fourth, 1min51.3s from the lead, but cut a frustrated figure after suffering a double rear puncture in stage seven – the same test where Paddon and Evans also suffered tyre delaminations. The Frenchman nevertheless won four of Friday’s eight stages.

Josh McErlean completed the top five having run as high as second at midday. The Irishman was only 9.8s from the lead after stage six before stopping to change a wheel on Yerbatera and dropping more than two minutes.

Home favourite Diego Domínguez ended Friday sixth overall and led WRC2 by 39.4s from Gus Greensmith, who sits seventh.

Solberg reached service in eighth, 3m33.3sec from the lead, after his promising start unraveled on the first Yerbatera pass when his engine stalled under braking and wouldn’t restart. Spectators eventually push-started his Toyota before a subsequent puncture added further delay.

Heavy rain is anticipated for Saturday’s leg, which brings another 137.34km across nine stages.

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– The Autosport.com Team