Sami Pajari heads the Rally del Paraguay after a dramatic Friday that eliminated two of his Toyota team-mates from the running order. The Finn holds an 11.9-second advantage over Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon, with championship leader Elfyn Evans third despite two separate tyre problems. Sébastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta both retired for the day and will restart on Saturday.

Sami Pajari ended the longest day of the Rally del Paraguay at the head of the field, extending the strong run of form that has already brought him victories on the two most recent rounds in Estonia and Finland.

The World Rally Championship’s second visit to Paraguay proved every bit as punishing as its 2025 debut. Friday alone covered 153.78 competitive kilometres across two loops of four stages, including the longest test of the season so far — the 34.08 km Yerbateras. The red gravel roads around Encarnación hide sharp rocks in a clay-like surface, and the combination of bumps and compressions took a heavy toll on tyres.

Two Toyotas out before mid-day

The attrition began immediately. Takamoto Katsuta went off the road in the opening stage and stopped with damage after rolling his GR Yaris Rally1. Sébastien Ogier was quick early on but picked up tyre damage, then ran wide and hit a bank on the following stage, damaging the front-left suspension badly enough to end his day. Both cars are being prepared to restart on Saturday under the championship’s rally-restart rules.

Oliver Solberg looked the man to beat after winning the first two stages, but lost engine power at a chicane in SS3 Yerbateras and needed a push from spectators to get going again. A later stop to change a wheel and tyre in the same stage cost him four minutes in total. He ended the day sixth among the Rally1 cars and eighth overall.

Evans manages his way to third

Running first on the road, championship leader Elfyn Evans was only seventh after the opening stage but nursed a tyre issue through SS3 and climbed to third by the end of the morning loop. He took the outright lead in SS6 before a second tyre problem on the repeat run through Yerbateras cost him around a minute.

Pajari, who had been slowed in the morning by a water leak that the team repaired at mid-day service, went fastest on that same stage to jump from third to first. He leads by 11.9 seconds from Hayden Paddon’s Hyundai i20 N Rally1, with Evans third at 56.3s.

“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,” said deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen. “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.”

Pajari himself was careful not to read too much into the position. “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,” he said.

A Toyota lockout in WRC2

The GR Yaris Rally2 fills the top three places in WRC2, led by Paraguayan driver Diego Domínguez, who sits sixth overall and 39.4s clear of Gus Greensmith. Marco Bulacia is third in class. Yuki Yamamoto, competing in South America for the first time as part of the TGR WRC Challenge Program, retired after SS6 with a technical issue.

What it means

With Evans and Pajari the closest rivals in the drivers’ standings, Friday’s running order effectively turned into an intra-team duel — one that could swing again quickly. Toyota’s two most experienced crews are out of the classified running for now, and rain is forecast for Saturday on a surface that was already destroying tyres in the dry.

Facts: end of day one (Friday)

  • 1. Sami Pajari / Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — 1h 28m 28.7s
  • 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) — +1m 51.3s
  • 5. Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) — +2m 23.1s
  • 6. Diego Domínguez / Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) — +2m 36.0s
  • 7. Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) — +3m 15.4s
  • 8. Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — +3m 33.3s
  • 9. Marco Bulacia / José Murado (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) — +4m 01.4s
  • 10. Romet Jürgenson / Siim Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) — +4m 36.9s

Results as of 18:30 on Friday. Ogier and Katsuta both listed TBC.

Saturday brings another loop of four gravel stages run twice either side of mid-day service, followed by a new super special stage in Encarnación, for a total of 135.74 competitive kilometres.

Source: newsroom.toyota.eu