WRC drivers expect Rally Paraguay to become something of a lottery, with forecast heavy rain threatening to create “almost a second Safari Rally” this season.
Paraguay surprised many crews as the gravel rally made its WRC debut last year with its distinctive red-clay gravel surface proving difficult to master. This year the rally is the longest of the WRC season at 358.88km, featuring five new stages.
In dry conditions, the road surface becomes increasingly polished with each passing car, making it extremely slippery. That effect is only magnified in the wet. Protecting tyres will also be crucial with bedrock coming up through the road surfaces in places.
However, the hot topic in the service park ahead of the event is the weather. Friday is expected to remain dry, but heavy rain is forecast for Saturday and Sunday.
“Someone said it can be almost like a second Kenya. If rain comes, it can be extremely difficult. It seems like tomorrow can still be more straightforward in the dry, which also here is quite demanding with many jumps and compressions. There can be a lot of punctures expected as well. It’s not going to be too straightforward, especially if the rain kicks in,” said Toyota’s Sami Pajari, who took victory in Finland last time out.
According to Oliver Solberg, the level of rain that is due to arrive could be huge.
“It doesn’t look like it’s just a little bit of rain either. It looks like Niagara Falls. So I think when that comes, it will be much worse than Africa,” Solberg told Autosport.com.
“We have this red clay dirt and it’s changing all the time. Realising where it’s slippery is quite tricky already on shakedown. So I think when the rain comes, if the rain comes, it will be difficult everywhere. I like it. The more tricky it is, the better. The more things can happen, and the more things you can turn around.”
Ogier expects a lottery
Sebastien Ogier, Julien Ingrassia, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Ready to fight for victory after his heavy crash at Rally Finland, reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier knows what it takes to tame Paraguay after winning the inaugural WRC version of the event last year.
However the Frenchman was frustrated to miss out on scoring the full 35 points after being caught in a late heavy rain shower. This year he feels the rally will pose even more of a lottery to crews.
“At least, in my point of view, this weekend will be a lottery. Tomorrow it’s a puncture lottery, and after that it’s going to be very complicated with the conditions, so you never know,” Ogier told Motorsport.com.
“It’s extremely challenging here. This clay road is basically giving no grip at all. So I think it’s going to be very interesting. That’s the word we always use in this condition when you don’t know how to describe it, but it’s going to be tricky.”
In some aspects drivers believe it could be worse than Safari Rally Kenya given there are few open run-off areas in the stages to recover should off road moments occur.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“We had similar conditions here a little bit last year, maybe not as extreme as what we’re going to face now,” said Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who leads the championship by 30 points over Pajari.
“The thing is here, you actually have many more things to hit in a way than you do in Kenya. I know that sounds a bit strange saying there’s nothing to hit in Kenya, but there’s far less of this open grassland sections here and more of a proper road lined with trees and banks and rocks and all the rest of it. So that’s going to be tough.”
“The stages are fully dry basically at the moment. Some bits you can see already that the risk of cutting up and risk of puncture is already quite high. How they evolve with the amount of rain this forecast is going to be almost impossible to judge. I think we kind of have to try and deal with the best we can on the day.”
Fourmaux expects fight to go to final Power Stage
Adrien Fourmaux, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux impressed at this event last year having led the event on Friday before suffering a puncture. The Frenchman was then caught out by the rain as his i20 N ingested water.
Fourmaux believes he has the pace to fight for what would be a maiden WRC win but believes the rally may not be decided until the final Power Stage.
“I’m happy to come here. I know it’s a tough one. I think we kept the lead for a long time last year, and then we lost it for a puncture, but then we kept second and then the last stage happened. But then there were few things before with the engine, drinking water, many things happened here, and I think it will happen again. But we’ve learned from last year,” said Fourmaux.
“There are a lot of new stages. The rain is coming. It’s going to be slippery. So I would say everything is possible until the last kilometre of the Power Stage.
“The roads are so compact on the dry. So when there is water, we are aquaplaning on top of it. It is like ice.”
M-Sport prepares snorkels for heavy Paraguay rain
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
M-Sport-Ford is prepared for the worst having brought snorkels that can be attached to its Ford Puma Rally1 cars should standing water become an issue.
The impending weather could however provide a chance to the British team to capitalise on the tricky conditions.
“I think we could have a good result, but we know that we need everything to go to plan, and it hasn’t been happening so far,” said Rally Paraguay debutant Jon Armstrong.
“The only thing I can say it’s similar to is the Goodwood Rally stage, which also has these shiny places when it starts to get more and more polished off from the cars driving over it. Only it seems here, it doesn’t take so many cars for it to start to polish.”
“I think it’s probably the slippiest gravel you’ll ever get. And with the amount of rain they’re saying there’s going to be on Sunday, maybe a boat will be better. Let’s see,” added Armstrong’s team-mate Josh McErlean.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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