Sami Pajari extends his lead in Rally Paraguay as Adrien Fourmaux storms through five stages
Toyota’s Sami Pajari has solidified his position at the forefront of the World Rally Championship in Paraguay, stretching his overnight advantage from 11.9 seconds to a commanding 24.1 seconds over Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon after a grueling nine-stage Saturday.
Despite fierce storm-force winds and torrential rain battering the service park, the rally stages remained challenging with fluctuating grip levels and cooler temperatures reducing tyre issues seen on Friday.
Pajari faced two tense moments during the day’s stages, including a narrow escape after running wide into a ditch in stage 11, which resulted in a damaged rear wing but no time loss. He maintained composure to reach midday service holding a 22.8-second lead. An overshoot on the Bella Vista stage briefly tested his focus, yet Pajari still outpaced Paddon, managing tyre wear effectively as conditions continually evolved. Reflecting on the afternoon’s run, Pajari remarked, “The afternoon was quite exciting even though the conditions were more straightforward but still we were having some small difficulties here and there. The conditions are changing a lot so you have to react quickly. It is cool and I need to be happy about leading but I still see many things which can go wrong. If it was Finland or Estonia a 25 second lead is a solid lead but here you could have one stage with bad conditions and you can make a small mistake easily. I don’t know the latest forecast is exactly for Sunday but we are expecting some rain, where and when and how much, that is the question. We will see.”
Paddon struggled to regain the rhythm that propelled him into the lead on Friday, shifting his focus towards tyre preservation and avoiding the hazards that marred the opening leg. Meanwhile, Hyundai teammate Adrien Fourmaux delivered a spectacular performance, clinching victory in five of the nine stages to close the gap on third-placed Elfyn Evans from 55.0 seconds to a mere 3.3 seconds by day’s end. Fourmaux acknowledged his strong showing: “I’m very proud and I have to accept I’m fighting with the leader of the championship so it was quite nice to take I think 49 seconds and I only had one mistake [a small overshoot in stage 16]. Clearly the car and me, we had a very good car for these conditions and the set up really helped me. We changed something last night in anticipation of the rain, but it actually suited me very well on the dry so I kept it for the afternoon. P3 or even more let’s see [what we can do tomorrow].”
Evans admitted to adopting a conservative approach, unable to match Fourmaux’s pace. “Adrien had a very strong day and we have been a bit on the conservative side it looks like. I was not able to find the speed as easily. It is going to make it interesting for tomorrow,” he said.
Further down the leaderboard, Toyota’s Oliver Solberg moved into fifth place after M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean slid off course on the final test, resulting in a mere 6.3-second gap between the duo. Paraguayan hero Diego DomÃnguez held seventh overall and topped the WRC2 category despite the unusual challenge of driving part of the morning without his glasses, which he had mistakenly left on his car roof; his wife sourced a replacement pair at midday service. M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong completed the top eight, with WRC2 contenders Gus Greensmith and Fau Zaldivar rounding out the top ten.
The battle for supremacy in Rally Paraguay intensifies as Pajari maintains a strong lead, Fourmaux charges hard, and the unpredictable weather continues to test every driver’s resolve.