At the end of Friday morning, Hayden Paddon has a big lead at Rally Paraguay with Josh McErlean and Elfyn Evans following him.
Hayden Paddon found himself leading Rally del Paraguay after the end of Stage 3 as the Kiwi set the fastest time and stayed out of trouble there. Moreover, he was the third-fastest driver in Stage 1 and moved up from third to second overall after Stage 2 ahead of the third Fourmaux for five tenths of a second.
Josh McErlean is the highest-placed driver for M-Sport Ford as he sits in second position overall and is 23,9 seconds behind Paddon. The Irishman set the second-fastest time in Stage 2 and was fourth overall after SS2 just 2,4 seconds behind the third Fourmaux. Despite the fact that his tyre delaminated in Stage 3, he managed to keep his second place over the third Evans for 3,5 seconds.
Elfyn Evans's consistency gave him the chance to complete Friday morning at the third position of Rally Paraguay and comes right behind the second McErlean for 2,8 seconds. The Welshman gained three places and climbed into third overall after Stage 3 despite the fact that he got a puncture from 20Km into SS3.
Sami Pajari is fourth overall and his rally did not start in a positive way as he faced an issue with his Yaris since Stage 1. He confirmed that his car was down in terms of power resulting in dropping from fourth to seventh overall after SS2. Furthermore, the two-time WRC winner got a front left pancture in Stage 3 and stated that he had a wated leak, but somehow managed to take back three places at the end of SS3 and to keep his fourth position after Stage 4.
Diego Dominguez completes the top five and is 14,5 seconds ahead of the sixth Adrien Fourmaux who was fighting with Solberg for the lead of Rally Paraguay after the first two stages of Friday. The Hyundai driver lost his second position overall over his teammate Paddon at the end of SS2 as he was running behind Ogier who stopped to change a puncture. Actually, Fourmaux gave a little push with the front to Ogier's rear as the last one did not know that Fourmaux was behind him. Afterwards, Fourmaux dropped from third to sixth after Stage 3 as he lost more than one minute when he stopped to change a front left puncture, but he responded back in SS4 by being the quickest driver there.
Jon Armstrong slipped behind the sixth Fourmaux for 4,1` seconds after Stage 4 as his Puma was heavily damaged in Stage 3. In fact, the Irishman had a front right puncture while the flaining tyre destroyed the brake lines resulting in hitting a bank and having a spin. However, he and Shane Byrne made some repairs to their car for Stage 4, but they were worried about the water temperature as their Puma had no power in SS4. Last but not least, it must be mentioned that Armstrong was fifth overall after Stage 2 and was kust two seconds behind the fourth McErlean after SS2.
Oliver Solberg was leading the eleventh WRC round of the season from Stage 1 to 2 as he was the fastest driver on the first two stages of Friday, but he dropped more than ten places in Stage 3 where his car stalled resulting in having an overshoot just 5,7Km into SS3. In fact, he was screaming to the spectators to help him while afterwards he had a rear right puncture and stopped to change it which means that he lost more time in SS3.
Sebastien Ogier was faster on the first splits of Stage 1 until the time he suffered from a rear left slow puncture resulting in losing 24,4 seconds there. In Stage 2, the nine-time WRC Champion hit a bank and got a front left puncture, but he was forced to stop to change it and lost more than five minutes as the suspension arm was broken after this incident. However, he and Vincent Landais repaired the damage on the road section after SS2, but the pair were forced to retire just 12,7Km into SS3 as the suspension repairs gave away.
Thierry Neuville's Rally Paraguay run ended very early as the Belgian got a rear left puncture and a suspension damage as he went wide slightly over a jump resulting in losing more than one minute in Stage 1. He and Martijn Wydaeghe withdrew from Rally Paraguay on the road section after SS1.
Takamoto Katsuta's title push was completed just 2Km into SS1 as he lost the rear of his Yaris and hit a ditch with the front, so afterwards his car rolled after these impacts.
A tough one to take on the opening stage 💔#WRC | #uenoRallyDelParaguay 🇵🇾 pic.twitter.com/yznvrcd3jv
— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) August 28, 2026
Watch below the stage times:
Watch below the overall classification after Stage 4:
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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