After a dominant display in qualifying and Race 1, Toprak Razgatlioglu unsurprisingly rode off into the distance on the Sunday of the French Round to take a 4th consecutive hat-trick and 12th win in a row in 2025 ahead of a demoralised Nicolo Bulega.
Tissot Superpole Race
Bulega very briefly led the Sunday morning 10-lap race in Magny-Cours before Razgatlioglu secured the win with a clinical move at the tight hairpin halfway round the opening lap to ease home for another victory. A mistake for Bulega at turn 15 at the end of lap 3 left the Italian behind the Lowes’ brothers, which sealed the deal for any hopes of a battle for the race win.
Alex Lowes once again came home in 3rd despite running behind his brother Sam in the early stages. Sam was cycled back to 4th when Bulega came past him and Alex a lap and a half after his mistake, but the MarcVDS rider then crashed out with 4 laps to go with much bigger consequences than yesterday to leave him stranded down the grid for Race 2.
The best-of-the-rest fight for 4th place became a battle between Danilo Petrucci and Michael van der Mark. Clearly van der Mark’s contusions from yesterday’s crashes were not slowing him down as he came home a solid 5th behind Petrucci. Andrea Iannone meanwhile just held off Jonathan Rea, Axel Bassani and Xavi Vierge for 6th.
Rea was fortunate to even make it to the finish after he had to take avoiding action at the hairpin at one point which led to Alvaro Bautista slamming into the back of him. Bautista ended up on the floor and – like Sam Lowes – one of the quick riders stuck outside of the top 3 rows for Race 2 in the afternoon.
Tissot Superpole Race Results
Image Credit: WorldSBK
Race 2
Razgatlioglu defended his lead at the start of Race 2, Bulega held onto 2nd, and Alex Lowes settled into 3rd to seal the exact same podium for all three events this weekend in Magny Cours. It was another dominant display from the BMW rider who sealed a 12th consecutive victory and leaves him with a 39-point lead in the championship with just 3 rounds (and 12 races) to go in 2025.
The action at the start of Race 2 was provided by a fast-starting Rea who shot up to 4th place from 7th on the grid. Bautista was also riding like a man possessed from a lowly 14th on the grid after another pair of unfortunate crashes in the previous 2 races.
By the end of the race Bautista was so rapid that he almost caught Alex Lowes for the final podium spot. It was thrilling to watch the Ducati rider scythe away through the order, particularly against a rejuvenated Michael van der Mark who came home a solid 5th place behind Bautista.
Alex Lowes had been battling Danilo Petrucci for 4th initially before the Barni Ducati rider lost his pace, while Rea also fell into 6th ahead of Vierge – who himself had initially squabbled with van der Mark. Rea had challenged Alex Lowes for 3rd for as long as he could, but the Bimota, factory BMW and factory Ducati’s were just a little too quick for the retiring legend to stay in the podium battle for long.
Behind Petrucci in 7th came Locatelli, Aegerter and Gerloff rounding out the top 10, with only 2 seconds separating those 4. Tarran MacKenzie and substitute HRC rider Sergio Garcia rounded out the points scorers after solid rides to 14th and 15th places respectively.
Razgatlioglu was 8 seconds clear of Bulega at the flag and enjoyed a symbolic celebration at the same corner where he crashed at high-speed last year which ruled him out of action for that particular round. With a 39-point gap at the top of the standings and Bulega seemingly unable to thwart his BMW nemesis like he could do earlier in the campaign, Razgatlioglu is well on his way to a 3rd WorldSBK title ahead of his much-awaited MotoGP move in 2026.
Toprak Razgatliolu became the first rider since Troy Corser to win at the same circuit on three different makes of bike in the Superbike World Championship in the opening race of the 2025 French Round, which saw another hectic lap 1 mix up the field.
From pole position sealed with an all-time lap record around the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Razgatlioglu led the field and never looked back at a track that he has already notched up wins on for Kawasaki and Yamaha. Of course, had it not been for a nightmare crash last season here at Magny-Cours then the record of winning for 3 manufacturers would almost certainly already have been his and Corser’s to share this time last year.
The man who leapt up to 2nd was Alex Lowes on the Bimota machine, while Nicolo Bulega fell back to 4th also behind Sam Lowes. Predictably, Bulega would be back into 2nd place after a couple of laps and as usual Razgatlioglu was already comfortably clear by this point while Alex Lowes settled into the final podium spot.
At turn 9 on what appeared to be quite a clean opening lap of the race, Yari Montella came into the right-hand corner and eliminated both Andrea Iannone and Jonathan Rea. Rea was able to continue but later retired, while later in the same corner both Xavi Vierge and Alvaro Bautista bizarrely went down themselves (and were at least able to rejoin) to leave 5 bikes on the floor at one point.
Michael van der Mark avoided the chaos and was finally showing some strong race pace in his morbid 2025 campaign but 2 crashes left him with injured with contusions, just like Iannone from the incident on lap 1. Garrett Gerloff also slid out at high speed by himself as the race reached the closing stages while Tarran MacKenzie was also forced to retire early on.
The 15 riders who scored world championship points were the only 15 to have a clean race. That is except for Sam Lowes, who threw away 4th place with a clumsy crash at turn 13 late on but he was at least able to bring the bike back home in 9th place ahead of an unlikely duo of Bahattin Sofuoglu in 10th and Iker Lecuona replacement rider Sergio Garcia in 11th.
The attrition meant that Andrea Locatelli was able to come from the pitlane after a crash in quaifying to finish a remarkable 5th place. Nonetheless, it was Razgatlioglu up front who stole the headlines with a dominant victory that left no one in doubt who was the favourite for Sunday’s pair of races with a 4th consecutive hattrick/treble looking ominous.
Onto the final day then with 79km’s and four stages. The M-Sport crews and Takamoto returned to the action. Greg would open the road throughout the day. Now the rumoured rain arrived in time to affect the first stage as well which would make things very interesting.
First up then was SS16 Bella Vista 1 – 21.25 km and Seb was fastest from Ott and Thierry. The early crews such as Takamoto, Josh and also Greg all had moments in the stage in which they went off the road. Ott’s pace also meant that he’d moved up one position into third overall pushing Elfyn down to fourth, but the gap remained very small, just 2.2 seconds between them.
Next up was the run through SS17 Misión Jesuítica Trinidad 1 – 18.50 km and Thierry was fastest from Adrien and Elfyn. This stage was unaffected by any rain. The gap between Elfyn and Ott reduced a further four tenths, the gap just 1.8 seconds now. Greg had a spin in the stage damaging the front left slightly but managed to complete without any problems. It was super tricky for those early crews.
Onto the penultimate stage then, SS18 Bella Vista 2 – 21.25 km and the rain had cleared and most of the stage had dried. Kalle was fastest from Seb and Elfyn. Ott fell down two positions from third to fifth as Elfyn retook third place and Thierry moved into fourth after the Estonian suffered a puncture. Adrien who was in second place coming into the stage had a problem in the water crossing where the car took in water into the engine bay. This caused the engine to stutter for a bit. He lost quite a bit of time and emerged from the stage just 3.3 seconds clear of Elfyn.
We came therefore to the final stage, SS19 Misión Jesuítica Trinidad 2[Power Stage] – 18.50 km and the rain had moved to this stage incredibly changing the conditions for the final runners. Thierry would win the stage from Kalle and Ott, whilst Elfyn and Takamoto would round out the points scorers from the power stage. Seb and Vincent took the rally victory, but there were no stage end celebrations as the Frenchman was clearly unhappy with the conditions in the stage as their run was the most affected by the heavy rain and being over ten seconds behind Thierry with the tenth fastest time. There were some changes in the overall standings as Elfyn moved into second overall and Thierry into third after Adrien was only ninth fastest in the stage. There would be a further surprise as later the team retired Adrien from the rally allowing Ott to move up into fourth place. The reason being given was a gearbox problem.
Let’s take a look at the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.
Final Overall Classification – Rally del Paraguay
1
S. Ogier
V. Landais
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
3:00:06.6
2
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+26.2
3
T. Neuville
M. Wydaeghe
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+27.2
4
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+30.6
5
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+2:05.2
6
S. Pajari
M. Salminen
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+3:35.5
7
O. Solberg
E. Edmondson
Toyota GR Yaris
+6:53.8
8
Y. Rossel
A. Dunand
Citroën C3
+7:16.3
9
N. Gryazin
K. Aleksandrov
Škoda Fabia RS
+8:48.2
10
F. Zaldivar
M. Der Ohannesian
Škoda Fabia RS
+9:17.0
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“I think we can be proud of our performance this weekend. After the time we lost on Friday, we never gave up and we kept pushing and enjoyed it a lot. On the final day the rain was changing the conditions very quickly. We were doing a good loop, increasing the lead and trying to take the maximum points. Unfortunately, I got the rain in the Power Stage, and we lost a lot of time and quite a few points from that, but luckily we had enough in hand to win and that’s the most important thing. I’m very happy to finally win in South America – which has never been my luckiest ground – and be on the top step in front of such amazing fans.”
Elfyn Evans
“This has been a tough rally – a lot more difficult than everybody anticipated coming here – so it’s nice to have this result at the end. We needed to find some improvements for today and we managed to do so. I was happy and lucky to get away with a moment in the first stage this morning, but then our task wasn’t helped by the rain in the Power Stage. In the end though we managed to not only hold onto our position but also gain second place, so it’s not been too bad.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“Today we tried to get what we could. The conditions were tricky and changing for every driver, and I was lacking a bit of feeling. The rain coming after we’d driven the Power Stage probably helped us and in the end we got eight of the 10 points available on Sunday, so not bad. It’s disappointing what happened yesterday, but the championship is still close, and we’ll go again in Chile. A massive thanks to all the fans in Paraguay: the atmosphere has been great.”
Sami Pajari
“Thank you to the team who did a really good job this weekend. For me it’s always exciting to have a new event and we were able to have some proper pace on Friday when we were holding third position, which was really nice to see. It’s unfortunate what happened later, but we didn’t give up and tried to have good pace and enjoy the challenge. We could see we had strong performance here, so I’m looking forward to the next event.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“It’s been a tough weekend for me after what happened on Friday. It’s disappointing because I think we had good pace, and after that it wasn’t easy because we had to open the road yesterday. There’s been a lot to learn about this rally and we’ve been trying a few things with the car setup. Today with the rain it wasn’t easy to know how the conditions would be, but it went fine. Even if the result was not what I wanted, this rally has been very nice and the fans have been nice, so I’ve enjoyed it a lot.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“This weekend is the perfect example of fighting until the end to get rewarded. Overall, we expected to have a bit more pace, but we just didn’t have it here in Paraguay. The profile of the rally wasn’t too hard to manage, but the grip levels were constantly changing. We took the second-highest amount of points this weekend, so we can be happy with that. We’re looking forward to Chile, and hopefully the pace is there for us.”
2025 FIA World Rally Championship Round 10, Rally Paraguay, 29-31 August 2025 Photographer: Vincent Thuillier Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Ott Tänak
“We really struggled with our performance this weekend. We were not close to where we wanted to be, and it was a tricky weekend inside the car with the punctures we experienced. We were really struggling to make the setup work, even with tweaks and changes we were making. It’s hard to miss out on second in the way we did. Nothing has changed much this weekend in terms of the championship, it’s still quite close, so hopefully Chile will suit us better and we can bounce back.”
Adrien Fourmaux
“We’re really disappointed with the end result after such a good weekend for us. We were in second position for nearly the whole rally – and even leading on Friday – managing our way through punctures and other issues, but today just didn’t go our way. With the heavy rain in the Power Stage, it was impossible for us to do any better. I’m happy with our performance in Paraguay, but we just didn’t get the result we deserved.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Josh McErlean
“Friday was a good start for us, and I felt like we were building confidence with the stages and the conditions and to be seventh at the end of the day was encouraging. Saturday was frustrating because the pace was there – we were right with the cars around us – but unfortunately our day ended early.
“The grip was very inconsistent throughout Sunday, but we still managed to get some positive mileage and good feedback from the car. For sure, the end result isn’t what we wanted, but it’s all useful experience and I think we showed some potential.”
Grégoire Munster
“Difficult event for sure, and not what we expected from our first time in Paraguay, but we didn’t give up. We managed to fix the damage we picked up on the first stage, and we continued even with a double puncture and no rear brakes, and in the afternoon no aero.
“The guys at M-Sport also made a good team effort to give us the perfect car to start again on Sunday and get the important mileage. We had a trouble-free Sunday with a bit of rain which makes it particularly slippery in Paraguay, so it was important to experience that as well. Now it’s time to get back in the rhythm before Chile.”
Oliver Solberg
“Saturday was the perfect day,” said Oliver. “We won every stage.” “We all have the same kind of power and the same kind of speed in the straights,” added Oliver.
“I knew it would be tricky to make that time back, but me and Elliott kept pushing – pushing in a way where we could look after the tyres and try to make sure we were not damaging the car or taking too many risks.
“It worked. Today (Sunday) we were a little bit more on the sensible side. We needed this result. Dropping points in Finland was really frustrating and we knew we had to get this championship back on track with a win and big points here in Paraguay. I’m really proud of the way we did that. Punctures are part of the game and they hurt you when they come – but for us to bounce back like we did was really cool.
“Another thing that’s really cool is Paraguay… I love this place. I know I said this a few times already, but the people, the fans here have been so amazing! I can’t wait to come back again next year. And a very big congratulations to the organisers, they did a fantastic job for their first time here.
“People were asking me: how good is this win? Honestly, to make a minute back – like we did in Sardinia earlier this year – is special. This can’t be better than winning in Estonia, but maybe it’s equal to that result. Thank you so much to the whole team at Printsport and to everybody at Toyota for making this awesome Yaris!
“It was Elliott’s birthday on Friday. He told me the best present I could give to him was a win on Sunday… happy birthday, mate!”
Summary
Let’s take a look then at the teams and drivers. Toyota once again were right at the front of the field after Adrien was passed by first Kalle and then Seb after the problems he faced. Incredibly the only crew not to have a tyre failure was Elfyn and Scott and this drive delivered a brilliant second place and a small increase in the points gap over their teammates.
At Hyundai they did have moments of pace and took stage wins along the way. Two of their crews led the rally, but ultimately they didn’t take victory due to a number of factors including tyre failures. It was surprise to see the team retire Adrien from the rally, but perhaps they were looking to assist Ott score a few more points.
Finally at M-Sport it was a learning time again for their young crews. The problems they faced both on the stages and with their cars will have helped them learn a huge amount. Let’s see how things go in Chile next time out.
Next up is Rally Chile which is from the 11 to 14 of September.
2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 10
1
E. Evans
198
2
K. Rovanperä
191
3
S. Ogier
189
4
O. Tänak
180
5
T. Neuville
150
6
T. Katsuta
88
7
A. Fourmaux
71
8
O. Solberg
58
9
S. Pajari
56
10
G. Munster
21
2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 10
Tom Ingram secured victory in the final race of the day at Donington Park, with title rival Ash Sutton close behind in second after a frenetic day of touring car action.
Sutton led off the grid with the Toyota’s of Cook and Taylor-Smith close behind. Ingram surged from fifth, clearing Daryl DeLeon before dispatching Cook for third with a nice switch back out of the Goddards hairpin.
Once he’d passed Taylor-Smith, he was hunting down Sutton in the lead. The Toyotas were squabbling which brought Rowbottom into the mix.
Ingram soon caught Sutton, teeing up a three lap battle of the two title contenders. Wheel to wheel side by side action, which culminated in the Hyundai man overtaking Sutton.
By lap eight Ingram was pulling away, with Sutton not too far behind, and Rowbottom sitting third behind his team mate. Tom Chilton was one of the stars of the race, going from 15th on the grid to fifth.
On lap ten Nick Halstead’s PMR Cupra decided to spill oil at the top of the Craner Curves, which brought out the Safety Car while it was cleaned up. After a four lap delay the race was back underway.
On the restart Ingram held off Sutton, despite a little glance on lap 15 at the Melbourne hairpin. He maintained the lead and took the win, a big win in terms of the championship.
Sutton came home second with Rowbottom third. The battle for fourth was intense between Aron Taylor-Smith and Jake Hill, but the Toyota man prevailed for fourth, Hill fifth, with Chilton’s excellent drive culminating in sixth. Gordon Shedden was seventh with Dan Lloyd leading home the BMW pair of Daryl DeLeon and Charles Rainford.
Josh Cook faded during the final laps to finish 11th with race two winner Dan Cammish 12th. Aiden Moffat, Sam Osborne and Senna Proctor rounded out the points finishes.
Tom Ingram now holds a 32 point lead in the standings over Ash Sutton, and with just six races left in the season, Ingram and his Hyundai squad sit in a very strong position.
Dan Cammish marked his 200th BTCC start with victory in a chaotic race two at Donington Park. Having taken the lead on lap six, a sudden downpour three laps from the end almost ruined the occasion.
Tom Ingram extended his championship lead with fifth while Ash Sutton was in the wars, with a couple of collisions and a ninth place finish the best he could achieve.
The top three from race one, Tom Chilton, Ingram, and Dan Rowbottom were all lumbered with the hard tyre compound, and with Sutton fourth, he was in the prime position to capitalise.
Sutton made a fine start and jumped Rowbottom for third. Chilton was pulling away with Ingram holding back Sutton and the chasing pack behind him. The Safety Car was deployed on lap one when there was an incident at McLeans.
Senna Proctor put a wheel on the grass and started to spin. He collided with Aiden Moffat’s BMW sending both into the gravel trap with Sam Osborne spinning while taking avoiding action in his Ford. Proctor was out while Moffat and Osborne returned to the action as the rain began to fall.
A few spits of rain fell, which foreshadowed the end of the race as Rowbottom couldn’t find grip and tapped into the back of Sutton at Redgate. This sent Sutton down the order who fell into further issues when he collided with Aron Taylor-Smith’s Toyota and fell to 12th place.
Cammish took the lead on lap six, passing Ingram down the back straight on softer faster tyres. Adam Morgan passed team mate Ingram for second. But with Sutton down the order, Ingram could afford to let Morgan through and not pick a fight.
The race settled into a rhythm when on lap 15 there was a sudden downpour, sending a whole host of cars off at McLeans including the leading trio of Cammish, Morgan and Ingram. The Safety Car was deployed and the race ended under yellow flag conditions.
Cammish took the win, with Morgan second and Gordon Shedden the big winner in the deluge of rain as he went from sixth to third. Chris Smiley was fourth, but was disqualified for failing ride height checks. Ingram was fifth, extending his championship lead as he inherited fourth. Everyone below Smiley moving up a place.
Daryl DeLeon finished sixth with the Toyota pair of Josh Cook and Taylor-Smith following behind. Sutton ended the race ninth and a solid haul of points despite his issues with Jake Hill tenth.
Dan Lloyd was 11th with Aiden Moffat recovering from his first lap collision for 12th. Dan Rowbottom, Sam Osborne and Mikey Doble rounded off the points.
Tom Chilton cruised to victory in race one of the day at Donington Park. With team mate and championship leader Tom Ingram in tow, the veteran capitalised on his first pole position in 14 years, with the win.
While initially slow off the line, Chilton held on to the lead, with Ingram close behind. His championship rival Ash Sutton started tenth, giving Ingram breathing space as the lead pair built up a gap at the front.
Behind the Hyundai trio of Chilton, Ingram and Restart’s Chris Smiley, were the NAPA Ford’s. Dan Rowbottom and Dan Cammish held the fort while Sutton caught up, passing Jake Hill and Senna Proctor into sixth place.
On lap four Rowbottom took Smiley for third, while at the front, perhaps weary of Sutton’s surge, Chilton relinquished the lead to Ingram coming out of the Melbourne hairpin – maximising his points haul.
Sutton managed to get past Cammish for fifth and was on the tail of Smiley for fourth.Sportingly, at the front, Ingram gave the lead back to Chilton, who’d earned the right to win the race. Ingram got the point for leading a lap and was happy to settle for second.
Sutton made it up to fourth, but with the quandary of the top three starting on the slower hard compound tyre for race two; Sutton was happy to stay where he is and have a front row seat for a race two win.
Chilton secured the win, his 18th of his illustrious career, with Ingram second. The NAPA trio of Rowbottom, Sutton and Cammish followed with reigning champion Jake Hill sixth. The other Team Vertu drivers Adam Morgan and Senna Proctor were close behind while Smiley dropped to ninth and Aron Taylor-Smith rounded out the top ten.
Daryl DeLeon finished 11th ahead of Gordon Shedden on the hard compound tyre. Charles Rainford, Dan Lloyd and Aiden Moffat were the final points scorers.
With Sutton on the soft tyre and Ingram on the hard, race two could have huge implications for the championship.
Onto the second full day then and with 112km’s over seven stages the crews had a good challenge ahead of them. Takamoto would open the road throughout the day after returning following the incident which put them out on Friday. Of course, Kalle was leading the rally would be the final car to complete the stage of the Rally1 cars.
First up then was SS9 Carmen del Paraná 1 – 18.67 km and Kalle was fastest from Ott and Seb. The pace of the Estonian took him past his younger teammate Adrien and into second overall. The gap between them just 1.7 seconds.
Next up came SS10 Artigas 1 – 22.73 km and Seb was fastest from Kalle and Thierry. Elfyn also set the same time as Thierry for fourth fastest. There was drama for Ott though as he suffered a puncture in the stage and sadly dropped from second overall to sixth. Those to benefit were Seb who now moved into third, Elfyn who was now up to fourth and Thierry who sat in fifth. Sadly, we lost Josh and Eoin before the stage started as their car lost all its oil following an impact to the front underside of the Puma.
Onto SS11 Cantera 1 – 13.74 km which saw Kalle set the pace from Seb and Adrien. Sadly, for the second stage in a row we saw the other Puma retire with the same problem as Josh’s car. Greg would join his teammate in retirement from Saturday’s action.
The short SS12 Autódromo 3 – 2.50 km was won by Seb from Takamoto and Adrien. Kalle continued to lead with a 16.7 second gap to Adrien and Seb now within half a second of his fellow countryman in his bid to take second overall.
After the service break came SS13 Carmen del Paraná 2 – 18.67 km and once again Seb was fastest from Kalle and Ott. There was a change in positions as Adrien dropped to third with Seb moving into second overall. Also, on the move up the leaderboard was Ott who passed his teammate Thierry for fifth place whilst also closing a little on Elfyn who was in fourth overall.
Onto the penultimate stage then of the day, SS14 Artigas 2 – 22.73 km and Seb was fastest from Adrien and Elfyn. Unfortunately, Kalle had a tyre failure on the front of his car early in the stage and he dropped a huge amount of time falling to sixth overall. His teammate Seb moved into the lead with Adrien and Elfyn also moving up into second and third overall.
The final stage then of the day, SS15 Cantera 2 – 13.74 km and Kalle showed that he’d not lost any of his pace, setting the fastest time from Ott and Seb. The Finn was over two minutes from the rally leader Seb and over a minute and a half from fifth placed Thierry.
Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day Two
1
S. Ogier
V. Landais
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
2:17:20.5
2
A. Fourmaux
A. Coria
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+10.3
3
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+36.6
4
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+39.1
5
T. Neuville
M. Wydaeghe
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+46.8
6
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+2:21.2
7
S. Pajari
M. Salminen
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+3:16.2
8
R. Virves
J. Viilo
Škoda Fabia RS
+5:30.8
9
O. Solberg
E. Edmondson
Toyota GR Yaris
+5:37.3
10
Y. Rossel
A. Dunand
Citroën C3
+5:38.0
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“It was a pity to see what happened to Kalle; you never want to take the lead from a team-mate in that way. Most of us have had issues with tyres at some point this weekend and unfortunately Kalle’s was more costly. Since we had ours yesterday, we’ve pushed and maximised everything we can, and we can be happy with that. It’s nice that we’ve managed to come back to where we are now but it’s definitely not over. Tomorrow we have the longest loop of the weekend, with maybe some rain in the forecast, so many things can still happen.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s not been the easiest day, but we did what we could. I’ve still been struggling to find a good feeling, especially when the stages are more technical. But we had a clean day and were able to stay out of trouble and gain a couple of places. Ott is pushing pretty hard and will be tough to keep behind us tomorrow, but we’ll give it a good shot. We’ll keep working tonight to try and find some extra speed and aim to maximise our points tomorrow.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“Obviously this was not what we were hoping for today. Things had been going OK; we made some changes with the car last night and the balance had been better than yesterday. We have seen this weekend that the puncture risk has been quite high, and for us it happened so early in the stage that we lost a lot of time. Looking back, we should have stopped to change it, but it wouldn’t have made a difference to our position now. It’s disappointing, but let’s see what the conditions are like tomorrow and what we can do to take back some points.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“Thank you to the team for fixing the car so that we could restart today. Running first on the road we had to do a lot of road cleaning, as we had expected with the different surface of today’s stages, so it was hard to know how much pace we had compared to the top drivers. Still, it was a good learning day. The surface here is very specific and difficult to judge so it’s important to learn about it. We tried many different things with the setup and learned some good things.”
Sami Pajari
“Today we didn’t really have anything to fight for in terms of position, but we still tried to do what we could. We were running second on the road for most of the day with some tricky conditions, so it was not so easy to compare the pace. But we tried to keep up some proper speed and have some good confidence, while also trying some things with the car, and we’ll aim to continue like that tomorrow.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Adrien Fourmaux
“I was quite happy with how we managed the afternoon. I was quite concerned in some places with the potential of punctures, so we lost some time, but it’s a compromise between pushing and risking your luck or just doing your best without that. We already had two punctures yesterday, and today we had some issues with the grip. The gap was ten seconds this morning and it’s still ten seconds tonight, so not much has changed for us. There are still long stages tomorrow, so for us it’s just about seeing how much we can push.”
2025 FIA World Rally Championship 10 Round , Rally Del Paraguay 28 – 31 August 2025 Photographer: Dufour Fabien Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Ott Tänak
“Our afternoon was all clean, obviously in the middle stage we dropped out a bit and we couldn’t commit as much in the second loop because of the risk of punctures. Our performance tomorrow will depend on what the weather is like, but if it’s dry then the road will continue to improve, and if it’s wet then we have no idea what’s going to happen. We need to balance the risks we take on the stages as best we can, and that’s all we can do.”
Thierry Neuville
“Our overall performance wasn’t the best, but considering we ended up cleaning the road for a lot of the day I think we can be happy with the outcome. Everyone had some setbacks today, but there are still some big gaps in the stage times. We got closer to the podium this afternoon, but there are still plenty of challenges awaiting us tomorrow – particularly with the potential change in weather. We’re only 10.2 seconds away from the podium, so we’re going to try and make the most of that on Sunday.”
Oliver Solberg
“Perfect,” smiled Oliver. “There’s not much more to say! We knew it wouldn’t be easy to make this time back – it’s never so easy on such fast roads. Fortunately for us there were some more twisty sections with more corners, and these were the places where me and Elliott worked really hard and pushed to make the time back.
“It’s been an amazing day. I’ve loved driving the Toyota today, it’s been so much fun and, once again, a massive thanks to all the fans who have been coming out and cheering for us today. Every time we get out of the car, we are surrounded by people wanting pictures and autographs – you know the Solberg family, we are all about the passion and the people for this sport. It’s a real pleasure to be here in Paraguay.”
Sunday
The final day of this first visit of the championship to Paraguay will see the crews tackle 79km over four stages. There are rumours that there will be rain coming and it all depends on when that arrives as to whether it affects the stages when they are run.
The first full day then of this rally would see the crews tackle 140km’s over eight stages. Elfyn and Scott would open the road throughout the day courtesy of being the championship leaders. Friday also would include the longest stage of the day and run twice.
First up then was SS1 Cambyretá 1 – 18.70 km and Kalle was fastest from Seb and Sami. Elfyn was 7.7 seconds down from his teammate and holding fifth overall. The best of the Hyundai cars was Adrien who was holding fourth and 4.8 seconds from the leader. There was drama for two crews out there with Takamoto getting a puncture, whilst Greg damaged his steering and stopped to fix the problem in the stage. He lost a huge amount of time sadly.
Into SS2 Nueva Alborada 1 – 19.25 km and Adrien set the pace from Ott and Kalle. There were a few changes on the leaderboard as Adrien moved up to second overall, whilst his teammates Ott and Thierry also gained positions. Falling back was Seb as he suffered a puncture and he fell six positions to eight place. Greg also got a puncture in this one. It was a terrible start to the rally for the M-Sport driver.
Onto the monster stage then, SS3 Yerbatera 1 – 30 km and Seb hit back with the fastest time from fellow countryman Adrien and Thierry. Adrien moved into the lead from Kalle with Thierry gaining three positions and moving into third overall. Ott lost two positions and fell to sixth.
The short SS4 Autódromo 1 – 2.50 km saw Adrien go fastest again from Seb and Sami. The young Finn moved back ahead of Thierry into third.
Following the service break the crews headed back to SS5 Cambyretá 2 – 18.70 km and Seb was fastest from Takamoto and Adrien.
In the next one, SS6 Nueva Alborada 2 – 19.25 km Ott was fastest from Thierry and Takamoto. The Estonian on the move gaining two positions to move ahead of Elfyn and Thierry. Ott moved back into third overall and his teammate Thierry was up to fourth as well with Sami and Elfyn falling behind to fifth and sixth.
The final big stage then of the day, SS7 Yerbatera 2 – 30 km and Seb was fastest from Ott and Kalle. Elfyn was fourth fastest and would move ahead of Thierry and into fifth overall. Thierry suffered a spin near the end of the stage and would fall behind the Welshman. Seb gained three positions and moved into fourth overall. There was some drama for Adrien who got a puncture near the end of the stage and after losing a few seconds fell from the lead into second as Kalle took the lead. Sadly, we lost Takamoto in this stage as he spun out and damaged his car. Sami also had a puncture and lost time changing the wheel and fell to eighth place.
Onto the final stage SS8 Autódromo 2 – 2.50 km and Seb won from Ott and Adrien.
Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day One
1
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
1:16:13.3
2
A. Fourmaux
A. Coria
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+7.1
3
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+7.6
4
S. Ogier
V. Landais
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+17.8
5
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+21.1
6
T. Neuville
M. Wydaeghe
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+25.7
7
J. McErlean
E. Treacy
Ford Puma Rally1
+1:18.4
8
S. Pajari
M. Salminen
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+2:24.2
9
Y. Rossel
A. Dunand
Citroën C3
+2:57.6
10
N. Gryazin
K. Aleksandrov
Škoda Fabia RS
+3:06.7
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Kalle Rovanperä
“It’s good to be in the lead. Today we had tricky stages to discover for the first time. We tried to be fast, but aside from the first stage this morning, we didn’t really have the last bit of pace we would have liked. On the other hand, we stayed out of trouble when many others had issues and that has paid off. I’m happy to have the best possible starting position for tomorrow with the greater road cleaning effect we’re expecting, and hopefully we can use that well.”
Sébastien Ogier
“We started the day with a good rhythm, so it was a bit disappointing to lose the time with the tyre damage in SS2. The only thing we could do then was try to fight back, and after that misfortune we can be happy with the rest of our day. I was pushing hard, and we had to show our real speed without holding much back, which was enjoyable. It was especially important to improve our starting position for tomorrow, given the cleaning we are all expecting, and even if we are still some way from the lead, we are at least in a place where we can fight.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been a pretty tough day. I think the conditions are tough for everybody, as we discovered in the shakedown, with grip levels that are very changeable and overall, pretty low. With the very hard-packed clay surface, it’s been difficult to get a good feeling. Tomorrow there will be a lot more loose gravel in sections and road order will probably have more of an effect than it did today. The feeling might improve in those conditions, but we’re working to try and find something to be better.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“It was unfortunate that we had tyre damage on the first stage, and for the rest of the morning I was trying to avoid risks. The stages are difficult with a lot of grip changes, and it’s not easy to find the rhythm if you’re not pushing. The afternoon was going well, though. We were quite on the pace with nice and clean driving, without pushing too hard. The feeling was good in SS7 but on one corner the rear snapped, and I wasn’t able to catch it. I’m sorry for the team but I will try my best to learn more about these stages in the remaining two days.”
Sami Pajari
“It was not a bad start for us this morning. I tried to be on it from the beginning, even in the first stage with the nasty bumpy places, and still there was room to do better because I made a small mistake at the beginning of the third stage. Still, it was going pretty well, and we were in the game this afternoon until we had to stop and change the tyre. It was really disappointing because we lost a lot of time and now the road position for tomorrow is not so good. But that’s the way it is, and we just need to keep going.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Adrien Fourmaux
“We had a good afternoon today, despite the two punctures. The second puncture was because of a rock in the road after a blind corner – it was too late to avoid. While we lost some time, we were still able to keep second place which is crucial for tomorrow’s road position. Generally, we’re happy with today’s performance, but the gaps are still really small, so we need to make sure we have the same pace tomorrow to try and catch Kalle.”
2025 FIA World Rally Championship Round 10, Rally Paraguay, 29-31 August 2025 Photographer: Vincent Thuillier Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Ott Tänak
“This morning was not great, but luckily we were able to bounce back this afternoon. It’s been really close between everyone, so there’s still a lot to play for. The first stage was the worst for us, with the heavy impacts it wasn’t easy for us or the car, but the others were more enjoyable. From what we learned on the recce, it seems like Saturday has a lot more cleaning, so it was critical today to push for a good road position. We have that now, so let’s see how we go tomorrow.”
Thierry Neuville
“I tried to protect the car as much as possible today, but that was probably the wrong approach because everyone else was going flat out and managed to make it work. We were just losing time. Other than that, the speed overall was generally there. Two damaged tyres on the penultimate stage meant we made a mistake and lost about eight seconds, which is not what we want on an afternoon loop, but we had no grip and just missed the junction.”
Oliver Solberg
“Today, the driving and the times have been good. We were a little bit cautious with the first stage, there were so many jumps in there – but the second time through we were pushing a little bit more.
“We had the slow puncture on the long one, it came in the fast bit and all of a sudden it started to go down. I don’t know where I got it, but it started to go somewhere about halfway. The car was sliding around more and more, I wondered if it was a delamination. It’s OK. These things happen and we got to the finish.
“The afternoon was good, and we made some time back. Everything can still happen in this rally – the roads tomorrow are a little bit different in terms of the surface, but they’re just as challenging and fast.
“Before I go, I have to say a very happy birthday to Elliott!”
Saturday
The second full day of action will see the crews tackle 112km’s over seven stages.
Time for a completely new challenge for the crews and teams as the championship goes across the south Atlantic for the first in a double header in South America. This will be the first running of a round in Paraguay. This gives the crews a big challenge with new pace notes for the stages and hopes that the pre-event testing in Europe has given the teams the correct base setup as well. Don’t forget that there is no testing for the Rally1 crews outside of Europe.
Let’s take a look at the stages and hear from the crews. There will be 333km’s over nineteen stages. The longest day will be Friday with almost 141km’s over eight stages with a service in the middle. Saturday has almost 113km’s over seven stages with includes a third run in a super special which is run twice on Friday. Sunday is as usual the shortest day with just under 80km’s over four stages.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Elfyn Evans
“After Rally Finland we’re back in the lead of the drivers’ championship, but the pack is incredibly close, so we can expect a big fight until the end of the season. We’re heading into another gravel rally in Paraguay, so it might not be easy to defend that lead when we need to open the road, but like usual we’ll be trying our best to get a good result. It’s always a big challenge to prepare for a new rally, and especially when it’s outside of Europe and we’re not able to test there beforehand. We’ll need to wait for the recce to really see what the stages and the conditions are like and try to adapt the car to suit that as best as we can.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“The result in Finland was amazing for us and for the team, and the points we got were really valuable for the championship. Now we need to try to keep going like this with a good feeling and continue the fight until the end of the season. We are working hard with the team to try and keep the pace that we had in Finland for these next gravel rallies, and I think we have a good idea now as to how we can be fast. Paraguay will be a new rally for everyone, and we don’t really know what to expect, so it’s not an easy one to prepare for, but hopefully it can suit us well.”
Sébastien Ogier
“Rally Finland was amazing for our team and good for the manufacturers’ championship, which has been our main target again this season. Also in the drivers’ championship, to have four drivers so close is great for the fans and it’s exciting to be part of that fight. We’ve been on the podium in every rally we’ve started and we’re going to try to keep that up in the next events if we can. I always enjoy the challenge of a new rally like this one in Paraguay where everybody will be starting from zero, writing new pacenotes from scratch and needing to adapt as quickly as possible, and I’m looking forward to discovering it.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“Rally Finland was really nice for me; to have that speed and also take a good result with it. I will try to take this good feeling to Paraguay, even though we don’t know exactly what kind of rally we will face there. Going to a brand-new rally can always be tricky. I think everybody will need to switch their mindset a little bit following a pure flat-out rally like Finland. Now we have something more unknown, even if there might be some fast sections. We will see on the recce what it’s really like, and if the conditions look nice, then maybe we can push for another good result.”
Sami Pajari
“Our feeling is good after the pace we had in Finland, and that gives us a good base to work from for the next two rallies – even though they will be a bit different in character. Paraguay will be completely new for everyone, and I like it when we have new stages or a completely new event: it feels a bit more equal when everyone starts from the same position. We don’t know so much about what the stages there will be like. From what I’ve heard and seen, it could be that the conditions are quite nice and not too rough, but we’ll find out more once we’re there.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Ott Tänak
“It’s always exciting to go to brand-new events, but it’s difficult to predict how the weekend will play out. It’s a great challenge for all of us in the team, and if we can pull off a good result, it’s always rewarding. We go to Rally del Paraguay with a blank sheet of paper, so the recce is the first time we can really try to understand what the rally will be like. It’s a lot of work with all the new notes, car setup and preparation. Everyone in the team will always throw themselves into whatever is needed, particularly when it’s a level playing field for everyone. Good points are essential for us in Paraguay, and we will push for that result.”
2024 FIA World Rally Championship Round 11, Rally Chile 26-29 September 2024 Ott Tanak, Martin Jarveoja, Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid Photographer: Dufour Fabien Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville
“South America has always been a great place for the WRC to visit, and we all hope to see lots of fans on the stages in Paraguay. We don’t have any testing for the event, so we have been studying the footage shared by the event organisers and speaking to locals to get a feel of the stages. We can really start to refine the car setup after the recce when we know a bit more about the grip levels and our pacenotes. It’s a huge unknown for all of us, but a new challenge is exciting for us and the championship. We need to optimise the weekend to ensure we get some strong points.”
Adrien Fourmaux
“We don’t know too much about what to expect at Rally del Paraguay, but I do know that the fans are really committed. In preparation, we’ve already started to analyse some of the stages through videos to maximise the information that we can get, and when we get to Paraguay we will get some more information from the locals. Across South America, the surfaces are really interchangeable, so the profile is unknown to all of us. Our pacenotes start as a blank piece of paper, and we can only really perfect them after we have been on the stages. I’m usually more competitive on new rallies, and I know that we can target the podium in Paraguay.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Grégoire Munster
“I’m really looking forward to going to Paraguay. It’s a brand-new event for everyone, which is always an exciting challenge. From the stage footage we’ve seen, the surface looks quite slippery in places – almost like Kenya – but it’s faster and more straightforward overall. In the mountain sections there are also some steep inclines, which will add to the challenge. It looks like a great new addition to the Championship because it’s so different from what we already have on the calendar. I can’t wait to discover the country and enjoy tackling these new stages.”
Josh McErlean
“Paraguay is a completely new event for all of us, so we’re heading in with a clean slate. That can be a positive because it means everyone starts from the same place. From what we’ve seen, the surface looks mostly clay with some fast sections and long straights, and in parts it even has a bit of a Safari feel. It’ll also be my first time competing in South America, which is really exciting. With Chile coming up straight afterwards, it’s a big few weeks with plenty to learn, but we’ll take it all step by step and make the most of this South American adventure.”
Oliver Solberg (WRC2)
“It’s exciting,” smiled Oliver. “Whenever we’re going somewhere new, there’s always something special about it. Nobody really knows what’s coming for the stages, the weather, anything. It’s cool. I’m really looking forward to it.
“Any time we get to go to South America is special – motorsport and rallying, for sure, runs through the veins in that part of the world. Argentina is just next door, and everybody knows the stories about the amazing number of people who go to spectate there. I’m sure Paraguay will be really the same.
“We had the chance to see the president from Paraguay [President Santiago Peña] on his visit to the last round in Finland. He was a really cool guy who had a lot of passion for the sport of rallying and for bringing it to his country. This is the kind of thing we need in the WRC.”
Much as they love the travel, the people and the place, Oliver and co-driver Elliott Edmondson know they’re there for one reason with the Printsport-run Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
“Points and hopefully a win,” said this year’s Rally Estonia winner. “This reason is not changing – it’s why we go to every round. Finland didn’t deliver what we wanted, so we have to go hard and fast to chase the big points for the WRC2 title next week.”
Talking about the terrain which sits in wait, Elliott added: “Like Oliver said, it’s always interesting to go to a new event – and this one is completely new. We’ve been doing all the research we can, but the pre-event recce is going to be an interesting one where we discover plenty about the route and the roads.”
Summary
This will be a significant rally this year in the battle over the driver and co-drivers world championship title. Elfyn and Scott will open the road on Friday as they lead the championship again from their teammates, Kalle and Jonne and Seb and Vincent.
Top placed Hyundai crew Ott and Martin are thirteen points from the championship leaders and fourth on the road, whilst Thierry and Martijn are fifth and fifty-one points away and will need a top result this weekend and for others ahead to have a very poor result to bring them back into the championship battle.
For M-Sport their two crews will have a hope that good road position on Friday and taking experiences from sandy conditions to hopefully get a strong result.
Hungary’s return to the MotoGP calendar delivered a last lap thriller, as Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team) edged Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech3) by just 0.018s in an elbows-out sprint to the line at Balaton Park. David Muñoz (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) joined them on the podium, continuing his stunning run of form.
Race Recap
A clean start saw polesitter Quiles get the holeshot ahead of Perrone and Austria winner Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI). The pace was fierce from the start, with Perrone briefly taking the lead on Lap 3 before Quiles struck straight back. The fight allowed the chasing group to close, with Muñoz and Piqueras both challenging for podium spots. Championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) sat in the chase group.
Gold & Goose / Red Bull Content Pool
While the majority of the race was mild for Moto3 – drama struck on Lap 6 when Scott Ogden (CIP Green Power) crashed, forcing Ryusei Yamanaka (Frinsa – MT Helmets – MSI) and Marcos Uriarte (Levelup – MTA) into the gravel. At mid-distance, Quiles controlled the pace until a mistake on Lap 10 dropped him to fourth, handing Perrone the advantage.
The closing stages saw Perrone, Muñoz, Quiles, and Piqueras locked together, with Rueda bridging across to make it a five-rider group. Guido Pini’s (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) strong ride ended with a crash, while Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) also fell in the chasing pack.
The final lap produced fireworks: Quiles struck at Turn 5 but Perrone countered into the final corner, seemingly stealing victory. However, Quiles dug deep, banging bars after an aggressive move from Perrone – the Argentine pushed on and edged ahead by inches at the line.
Perrone’s runner-up is his best result yet, while Muñoz extended his podium streak to five consecutive races. Piqueras grabbed P4 ahead of Rueda, trimming three points from the title lead.
