Sami Pajari has continued his strong FIA World Rally Championship form by leading for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team at the end of an incredibly eventful first day of the Rally del Paraguay.
On the WRC’s second visit to the South American country, the challenging red gravel roads around Encarnación quickly lived up to the reputation they earned in 2025. The first day was also the longest of the rally with 153.78 competitive kilometres to be driven across two loops of four stages – including the longest test of the season so far; the 34.08km of Yerbateras. Across the day, the many bumps and compressions and sharp rocks hidden in the clay-like surface would prove demanding for tyres as well as the cars and their drivers.
There was trouble for some crews already in the opening stage with Takamoto Katsuta going off the road and having to stop with damage, while Sébastien Ogier was showing strong pace until being slowed by tyre damage. In the next stage, Ogier would run wide and hit a bank, sustaining suspension damage and ultimately having to join Katsuta in retiring for the day. Both cars are being prepared to restart on Saturday.
Oliver Solberg made a strong start to the rally, winning the first two stages to build an early lead, but lost power in a chicane in SS3 Yerbateras and required a push from fans to restart, before then stopping later in the stage to change a wheel and tyre, conceding four minutes in total.
Championship leader Elfyn Evans, running first on the road, was seventh overall after the first stage but carefully managed a tyre issue during SS3 to capitalise on the problems for others and climb to third overall at the end of the morning loop. He was one place ahead of team-mate and nearest championship rival Pajari, who was affected by a water leak during the morning loop which the team fixed during mid-day service.
In the afternoon Evans continued to gain places and took the rally lead in SS6 only to be struck by another tyre issue in the following stage, the second pass through Yerbateras, where he lost around one minute.
Pajari went fastest in the same stage to jump from third to first overall, and the winner of the two most recent rallies in Estonia and Finland leads by 11.9 seconds overnight from Hayden Paddon of Hyundai. Evans is third, 56.3s from the lead, while Solberg is sixth among the Rally1 cars and eighth overall.
The GR Yaris Rally2 car occupies the top three places in WRC2 with Paraguayan driver Diego Domínguez in the lead and in sixth overall by 39.4s ahead of Gus Greensmith, with Marco Bulacia third in the class. On his first time competing in South America, TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto’s day came to an early end due to a technical issue after SS6.
Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“It has been quite a crazy day to start this rally with so many things happening so early on. Sami has done well to be leading. He was the only one not to lose significant time; he just had the water pipe come off this morning and had to slow down a little bit to manage the temperatures. We lost two cars from the fight early on, and then Oliver lost time as well. Elfyn was doing well until his tyre issue this afternoon, but he’s still not in a bad position. It’s been a strange day but our rivals haven’t really had it any easier. Everyone is expecting rain tomorrow, which could make things very tricky, but we just have to prepare as well as we can.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been a dramatic day for almost everybody, with very few who haven’t had their fair share of trouble already. We’ve been focused on trying to be clean and having a good rhythm, and everything’s been working fine in the car. It has been challenging for the tyres and we had to manage some issues through both long stages and unfortunately lost quite a bit of time. Others have fared even worse than us so the overall position isn’t bad, and the rain might bring a very different set of challenges for tomorrow.”
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Unfortunately this rally quickly turned out to be very challenging for us. In the first stage we got a puncture on a landing from a jump, and we also had a bit of an electronic issue going into the next stage. I maybe lost concentration a bit, came a bit too fast over a crest and hit the bank on the outside; it was my mistake and we damaged the front-left suspension. We tried to fix it and continue, but eventually we had to stop for the day.”
Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“Today was definitely trickier than expected. I had a good feeling this morning and the first two stages were nice. Then we were a bit unfortunate; going into a junction I lost the engine and needed help from the fans to restart, and then we got a slow puncture and stopped to change it. It’s a pity so much time was lost but that’s rallying. After that we just tried to be clean and nothing is over; there could be crazy weather over the weekend so anything can still happen.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“At the beginning of the first stage there was a very high-speed approach down into the forest and I probably just came too fast into this corner; it was my mistake. I lost the rear of the car and wasn’t able to recover it and we rolled. Initially we tried to continue but we stopped to prevent any further damage. I’m really sorry for the team and it’s a tough moment but we will try to regroup.”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It’s been a crazy day with many stories to tell for us and for everybody else. Our day didn’t start great as we got a water leak on the first stage, but thankfully we could make a fix to get through the morning and get back to service. After that, the car was working to its full potential and we could enjoy it as much as possible, but today was still more about survival than we expected. It’s nice to be in the lead but I think on this rally it’s not meaning so much; with the weather forecast, the most demanding days might still be to come.”
End of day one (Friday):
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 Domínguez/Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2m36.0s
7 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +3m15.4s
8 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +3m33.3s
9 Marco Bulacia/José Murado (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +4m01.4s
10 Romet Jürgenson/Siim Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +4m36.9s
TBC Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
TBC Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
(Results as of 18:30 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
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