Category: Rally

The second full day then of this southern hemisphere springtime rally and the crews faced 139km’s over six stages which included the longest stage of the event at just a little under 30km’s. Ott and Martin returned to the action and would open the road.

 

First up then was SS7 Pelún 1 – 15.65 km and the rain which had been falling overnight was still falling. It would really make this first stage super tricky and slippery. Ott would set the pace despite opening the road, with Elfyn going second fastest just 1.4 seconds off the pace of the Estonian’s, whilst Kalle was third fastest. Elfyn and Scott’s pace brought them up two positions and into third overall as Seb and Sami slipped behind, now holding fourth and fifth respectively. Sadly, we lost two of the M-Sport crews as Josh and Alberto both had mechanical problems with their Puma’s. Greg was still running though, now in eighth place after being passed by Kalle after the Puma slid into a bank.

 

Onwards then into SS8 Lota 1 – 25.64 km and Ott was again fastest in the stage. There was no rain in this stage, but there were still sections with were damp. Kalle and Seb were second and third fastest. There were some changes on the leaderboard as Elfyn who set the fourth fastest time passed Thierry for second overall as the Belgian was around five seconds slower with the sixth best time. The Welshman’s pace took him and Scott really close to rally leaders Adrien and Alex, just nine tenths of a second now separating first and second positions. Also moving up the top ten were Kalle and Greg who both passed Takamoto as they moved into sixth and seventh respectively.

Now to the final stage of the morning loop and the longest stage of the whole weekend, SS9 María Las Cruces 1 – 28.31 km. Before the stage started Ott and Martin who were on their way to the start of the stage, then turned around and headed back to the service park. There was no problem with their car, and this was a decision it seemed to protect their car and look to Sunday’s stages and the points available. Kalle was fastest from Elfyn and Seb. Elfyn’s time saw him move into the lead passing Adrien, whilst Seb also moved into second overall. Adrien fell to third and Thierry was now fourth. The two Hyundai crews were not quite able to show the pace on this one.

 

Into the afternoon stages then, SS10 Pelún 2 – 15.65 km and Seb set the pace again from Elfyn and Thierry. It was an encouraging run from the Belgian crew who hoped that the afternoon would show that they were back on the pace after the struggles in the morning. With Seb setting the pace, he and Vincent halved the gap to Elfyn who remained 2.7 ahead of his teammate in the lead.

 

Onto the middle stage of the day then, SS11 Lota 2 – 25.64 km and Seb was again fastest from Elfyn and Sami. The Frenchman’s pace took him into the lead as Elfyn was 3.7 seconds slower with the gap now one second between them. The Hyundai crews really struggled on this one, going 7.8 and 10.3 seconds slower than Seb.

 

Onto the final stage of the day then, SS12 María Las Cruces 2 – 28.31 km and Seb was again fastest from Elfyn and Adrien who were 5.3 and 8 seconds slower than the leader. Thierry lost a huge 13.6 seconds in this one and was now over 40 seconds back from the lead.

 

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 2:23:13.9 2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +6.3 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +26.8 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +41.7 5 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +50.4 6 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:23.2 7 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:54.3 8 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +2:00.4 9 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +6:12.7 10 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Škoda Fabia RS +6:42.9

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I can be pleased to be in the lead tonight but not with my whole day. The conditions were not easy this morning and unfortunately I was not in the right rhythm in the first stage. I was just too cautious and lost a lot of time. That was a frustrating start, but we managed to react well and find a good rhythm. Elfyn was very strong in those conditions this morning, but we managed to turn it around in the afternoon. Tomorrow will still be very intense: the fight for the win is very much on and there are a lot of extra points to try and secure too. Every stage will be important, so I will need to be awake and on it from the first one.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a very positive day overall today. We had a really good run this morning in difficult conditions. It rained a lot overnight and during the first stage, and it was there where we were able to make the biggest difference, so I was happy with that. This afternoon the tyre wear wasn’t as bad as expected and I was maybe a bit conservative, especially at the start of the loop. Seb’s driven really well and taken some time back, but it’s still pretty close and all to play for tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to the fight.”

Sami Pajari

“This morning the conditions were surprisingly tricky. Like everyone, we were expecting the rain and the muddy sections, but the tyre wear was also quite high, and I quickly realised that I had to be clever and not just push like crazy everywhere. I don’t think we did too badly, and we were able to catch Thierry a little bit. I was hoping we could have done even more this afternoon, but we do have some new tyres available and will do all we can to try and catch him tomorrow.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It was pretty good for us this morning when the rain came: in those conditions it was not so bad to be at the front of the pack and we were able to do some good times and catch up quite a lot. But after all, three cars running in front of us dropped out, the afternoon was tough as first car on the road. It was drying up a lot, especially the last stage, and with so much loose gravel we lost a lot of time. Hopefully everyone restarts tomorrow, and we have more cars in front of us and we’ll try to get what we can from the final day.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It was a difficult start today with the conditions. The first two stages of the loop were new for me, and we did the recce for them in fog, so it was not easy to trust the pacenotes and we had to accept that we would lose some time there. The last stage of the loop wasn’t so bad, so I knew that the pace was there, and the speed was quite OK in sections this afternoon too. Overall, I can’t be satisfied but the rally is not over yet and I’ll try to make tomorrow a good day.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“We were aiming for the win here in Chile, and while today has been frustrating, the rally is not yet over. Let’s see what tomorrow brings – it will be a big fight with Séb and Elfyn, as well as Thierry. We gave it everything today, but the times just weren’t there; we are definitely missing something. However, I will not give up, and tonight we will try to improve the car to be on the pace tomorrow.”

Thierry Neuville

“I took a gamble this afternoon by running with one more soft tyre than Adrien, but the conditions were still humid and tricky. We were quicker on the first stage of the afternoon, but he was faster on the second. Ideally, I would have had four hard tyres on the final stage, and I lost a bit of time. Overall, today, I was on the limit and couldn’t have gone much faster. Tomorrow is going to be a close fight with Adrien, and we’re going to enjoy it.”

Ott Tänak

“We returned to service after the first two stages today to save the engine for tomorrow. We gained good data from this morning that will aid in our preparations for Sunday, where we are aiming to score as many points as possible. It is not the position we want to be in, but we will do everything in our power to get the best out of this event and the remaining rallies this season.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“There was quite a lot of rain around in the first stage this morning,” said Oliver. “It was quite muddy and dirty in places, but after that the road was drying quickly and we had to look after the tyre. I was maybe taking it a little bit too easy in some places.

“The middle stage this afternoon, I was a little bit cautious, so we were back pushing harder on the last one – just to keep the gap. Now the focus is on tomorrow and not taking any major risks. The team, Elliott, everybody has done a fantastic job, and it would be amazing to bring this thing home tomorrow.”

 

Sunday

The final day will see the crews tackle 54km’s over four stages. Can Elfyn and Scott pass their teammates and take victory, or will the French crew hold on and take another win? Can the Hyundai crews fight back after a poor Saturday?

The first full day then of round twelve of this season with the crews facing just under 113km’s over six stages. The day dawned bright and dry, but after the week of rain there were damp sections in the stages and some fog as well. How would Elfyn and Scott do was the question of course.

 

Into SS1 Pulpería 1 – 19.72 km and Kalle set the pace from Elfyn and Ott. It was a very good stage from the crew in the number 33 Yaris to be only 3.9 from the lead, whilst Ott was a further eight tenths of a second further back. It was not a good stage for Thierry or Seb who both suffered in the stage with a car that was not allowing either of them to drive at their best and they held sixth and seventh respectively. However, there was worse to come for Josh as he suffered a high-speed spin and lost the front bumper including the front splitter.

 

Next up was SS2 Rere 1 – 13.34 km and Kalle was fastest again from Ott and Adrien. There were some changes in the leaderboard behind Kalle as Elfyn dropped one position to third. Ott had moved past the Welshman and into second overall. Also on the move was Adrien who passed Sami and was now fourth. Greg in his Puma also gained a position, moving into eighth after passing Takamoto.

The final morning stage then, SS3 San Rosendo 1 – 23.32 km and there were more changes as Elfyn moved into the lead after setting a time which could not be beaten from Ott and Seb. Kalle who was leading slid wide on a corner and put one of his rear tyres off the rim. He would lose over a minute and fell to ninth.

 

After the service break came SS4 Pulpería 2 – 19.72 km and Sami was fastest from Thierry and Ott. The Estonian’s pace saw him move into the lead from Elfyn and Adrien. Thierry also gained a position, passing Seb for fourth position as the changes they’d made to the car meant that they were able to set the pace and helping them climb the standings.

 

Next up then came SS5 Rere 2 – 13.34 km and Ott also set the fastest time from his teammates Adrien and Thierry. With the pace from the Hyundai crews, they now held the top three positions, whilst Elfyn held fourth as the best of the Toyota crews.

 

Onto the final stage then, SS6 San Rosendo 2 – 23.32 km and Seb was fastest from Thierry and Sami. Ott sadly retired in the stage after suffering engine issues. With Adrien moving into the lead and Thierry now second, the best placed Toyota crew was now Seb who gained two positions and Sami passed Elfyn, moving into fourth. Greg was the best placed Puma, holding seventh place.

 

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

 

Classification after Day One

1 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 57:48.5 2 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1.0 3 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2.3 4 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +11.2 5 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +13.1 6 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +41.0 7 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +49.8 8 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:05.0 9 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +2:27.4 10 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +2:35.7

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I’m very pleased to be leading the rally, but it’s a shame that Ott had an issue. From our side, we had a consistent day without mistakes. In hindsight I could have pushed more this afternoon, but I was concerned about tyre wear and struggling to finish the loop. Overall, it has been a good day, and it’s great to be in first place at the end of Friday for the first time. We’re expecting rain tonight, so tomorrow morning will be wet and muddy – a big challenge ahead, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a tough day, but we can be pleased with the outcome. This morning was tricky, as we had some issues with the transmission, but we were able to revert to settings we are familiar with. Immediately, the balance was much better, and the road conditions improved as well. All in all, it was a disaster in the morning, but a very good afternoon as we closed in on the lead. We have a chance of a good result here this weekend, but the rally is still long.”

Ott Tänak

“This is difficult to digest. Everything was on track for a strong result, and the car was running well for most of the day. There was no indication that something was wrong, and we tried to carry on when the first signs appeared, but in the end it was terminal. The morning was quite messy, with the gravel not really clearing from the top of the roads, which were also very soft in some sections – very different to what we normally see here. It is a shame to end the day like this, especially when the championship is very close, but as always, we’ll do everything we can to salvage a good result.”

 

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Sébastien Ogier

“We didn’t make an ideal start this morning. Even after 200 starts, we can still go the wrong way with the setup occasionally and this morning I was missing the feeling and the precision needed for these narrow roads. We knew what we wanted to change in service and things definitely went in the right direction this afternoon, even if the conditions were challenging for the frontrunners. We kept pushing and managed one very good stage at the end which saved the day for us and put us in contention for the lead, so I’m happy with that. Tomorrow could be even more challenging with the rain that’s expected, but we’ll try and continue in this positive way.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s been a good day overall. This morning the feeling was not quite there, and I felt I could do better, but with some different conditions in the afternoon and some small fine-tuning with the car, I started to feel that everything is coming together. We managed to take a stage win and to be fourth overall, 11s from the lead, it’s a really positive day. I tried to save my tyres in the middle stage of the loop, and I probably could have pushed more, because I still had good grip at the end. I’ll try to do my best again tomorrow, when the stages will be more twisty, and the conditions could be more wet and muddy.”

Elfyn Evans

“It was a good start for us this morning. With the moisture in the air and on the road, the conditions were not as bad for us as usual running first on the road, even if there was still some loose gravel in places. The feeling in the car was pretty good after the work we’ve done in Paraguay and between rallies, and it was a reasonably clean morning. Then the afternoon was a big struggle with the cleaning being much worse than in the morning. At the same time, I don’t feel that I did a lot wrong and we’re still in touching distance of the lead, knowing that many things can still happen with the weather this weekend.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“This morning started quite well. I’ve never felt so comfortable on these stages, but today the pace was finally there. We’ve made some progress with a combination of the car setup and my driving; I was doing something differently and it was working well. Unfortunately, we went wide in one narrow place, where the braking is always tricky, and lost the rear. It was not a big hit, but enough to push the tyre off the rim and we lost a lot of time. The afternoon was more difficult with more cleaning than the morning. Tomorrow we expect some tricky weather: hopefully if it’s wet the cleaning won’t be too bad, and we’ll push to see what we can get.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“In the morning I was struggling quite a bit as I was lacking the feeling with the car, and it was not easy to be committed on these fast stages. But we changed quite a lot during the mid-day service, and I felt much better in the afternoon and the times were improving a lot. It was a pity that we lost the time in the morning, but we’re sixth overall with still a long way to go and maybe some tough conditions ahead. I will just keep pushing and trying to improve.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“Today has been OK. We kind of knew these stages wouldn’t work quite so well for our car – tomorrow and Sunday should be better for us. So, to come here in a strong position is good.

“The morning was quite mixed. We had a half-spin in the first stage, but then in the third one we were able to take some good time out of our rivals. This afternoon the roads have become more abrasive, so we’re really having to focus a little more on looking after the tyres. Because we have a limited supply for the softs, it’s going to be about who has enough to come through the rally – especially if there’s more rain coming tonight.

“I’m happy with the position we’re in for the tyres and, of course, it’s nice to lead tonight and to take some more time out on the final stage.

“Basically, the priority today was to make no mistakes and that’s the way we have to carry on into tomorrow. We have a bigger prize to think about right now.”

 

Saturday

Day two of the event will see a much longer day with 139.20km’s over six stages. What will we see happen?

The second round in a row in South America sees the eleventh round of this years championship. Last time out in Paraguay Seb took victory from Elfyn and Thierry, whilst Ott took fourth.

Elfyn and Scott actually opened up their lead in the championship over Kalle and Jonne, bringing an eight-point lead into this round. Last time out Kalle and his co-driver could have taken victory but for the tyre blowout. They will hope that this time out they can have a clear run. Seb and Vincent are nine points behind the championship leaders and will hope that their good road position will get them an advantage which they can exploit.

 

At Hyundai Ott and Martin are the closest challengers as they are eighteen points from their former M-Sport teammates, whilst Thierry and Martijn are a further thirty points behind their Estonian teammates.

 

At M-Sport there will be more learning for Josh and Eoin, Greg and Louis in this round. Greg and Louis had a good result last year taking seventh position, just eight seconds behind Sami and Enni.

 

Let’s take a look at the stages and hear from the drivers.

Weekend at a Glance

• Cars take to the stages on Friday, with two loops of Pulpería (SS1/4, 19.72km), Rere (SS2/5, 13.34km) and San Rosendo (SS3/6, 23.32km)
• Saturday’s six stages cover 139.20km of competitive action: Pelún (SS7/10, 15.65km), Lota (SS8/11, 25.64km) and María las Cruces (SS9/12, 28.31km)
• Sunday concludes with two loops of Laraquete (SS13/15, 18.62km) and BioBio (SS14/16, 8.78km).

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“After a tough rally we found some good improvements on the final day in Paraguay and the result wasn’t too bad in the end. It means we’re still leading the championship and opening the road on gravel once more in Chile. Let’s see how the weather is there: if it’s dry we could face the usual challenge on Friday, but if it rains it’s not so dissimilar to somewhere like Wales in terms of how muddy and slippery it can get, and then it’s not so bad to be first. Either way, the roads are really enjoyable to drive. Friday’s stages are technical with a lot of crests and quite like Finland, while the others are wider and more open, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Even if our result in Paraguay was not as good as it could have been, we still took good points from Sunday and the drivers’ championship remains close. Unlike in Paraguay, we know what’s coming in Chile. The roads are fast and flowing like in Finland, but the surface is quite different with a harder base. Last year, I didn’t feel the most comfortable with that on the Friday stages, but we still managed to do a good rally after that when the conditions changed with rain and fog, and we were able to take the win. We’ll do everything we can again this year and try to score good points.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It was great to win in Paraguay and stand on the top step of the podium, and we will try to continue the same way in Chile. We haven’t finished off the podium this year, and the plan is to keep it like that as we continue the fight in the championship. Last year was my first time back in Chile since 2019 and we had amazing speed, but we didn’t have a clean weekend to bring it all together. So, we’ll definitely be trying to put that right this year. The roads there are enjoyable to drive, and the atmosphere is nice like always when we’re in South America, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Paraguay was a really enjoyable rally, even if the result was not what I wanted, and now I’m really looking forward to going back to Chile. As I wasn’t there last year, there will be some stages that will be new for me, but I’m trying to prepare as well as I can by watching videos from previous years. The surface in Chile is different to what we experienced in Paraguay, so I don’t know how much we can take from one rally to the next, but the stages are very nice and I’m feeling quite confident that we can have a good performance there.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m looking forward to Rally Chile. Like Rally Finland, it’s one of the events that I did in the Rally1 car already last year and I enjoyed it a lot. We were quite close to the lead on the first day before the conditions became more tricky and it became more about learning. The roads are nice to drive and quite similar to Finland in places. The feeling and the performance that we’ve had in the car in the last few rallies has been really good, and the plan will be to try to carry that on in Chile.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“Chile is all about rallying. The roads are exceptionally cool there – they’re flowing and smooth at the same time. You have to be as efficient as possible, and that’s something that comes through your driving style and car setup. Your car balance needs to be adaptable but easy to manage, and your tyre choice is massively dependent on the weather, road conditions and road position. There’s a lot to learn on each loop, and the weather can be a lottery for each car. Our performance was compromised by punctures and some small issues in Paraguay, but we will make sure that’s back on form in Chile.”

Thierry Neuville

“We’ve had some good results at Rally Chile in the past and we are looking forward to heading back there. Our experience is invaluable, and we’ll be starting the rally in a good road position, so we are hoping to get some decent runs in from the start. We went into Paraguay with a car setup based on Chile, so the car should also feel more comfortable there, particularly with our familiarity with the surface. It’s a very demanding event on our tyres, so we need to make the right calls to get us to the end of the loops.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Last year might have been my first entry at Rally Chile, but it quickly became an event I enjoy. The challenges with the road profile and the tyres are exciting, particularly with the differences seen across the weekend. The weather can be tricky; the elevation changes mean we face a lot of fog, and it doesn’t ever stay in the same place. Pacenotes are key for us; we need landmarks to make sure that we stay on track if the weather isn’t on our side. While the result in Paraguay didn’t go our way, our weekend was positive – we had the pace. If we have that kind of performance again in Chile, we’ll be happy.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“Chile is an event I know quite well, as it was where I made my first Rally1 start at the top of the WRC. The itinerary is identical to last year’s event, which means we can reuse our pacenotes and focus on building more speed. It won’t be as rough as Paraguay, and we’re motivated to turn things around after last weekend. Chile is always tough on tyres, so it will be interesting to see how the Hankooks perform here and how that affects the car’s behaviour.”

Josh McErlean

“It’s great to be going to Chile for the next stop in our South American adventure. The itinerary is the exact same as last year’s event, we will be writing fresh pacenotes as it’s our first time there – but we will do our homework and be prepared. It’s a stunning part of the world and I’m looking forward to the challenge and continuing to build momentum on these incredible roads.”

Alberto Heller

“I’m very happy to be able to represent my country in the top category, as part of a tremendous team like M-Sport. Racing in my region and close to my hometown is something very special for me. “In Chile, the motorsport culture has been growing, and I’m sure we’ll have an even better event than in previous editions. “Our country probably has the best roads in the world, and I feel truly privileged to be able to travel them in a Rally1 car.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“If I win, I win,” he smiled.

“It’s like that. If I win the race, then the WRC2 title is mine. There are some different calculations for some of my rivals, but this is the main one and this is what we focus on.

“For me, it’s the same as always: I drive my own race and do my own thing. Nothing changes from that side. OK, maybe we don’t go completely flat out all of the time, let’s maybe come one step down from the speed we were showing in Paraguay.

“Like we know, this sport is a team effort and to be at this point is a big reflection on how hard everybody at Printsport has worked with us. The Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 is an amazing car and I’m grateful to Toyota and the whole team for what they have done to help us in the fight this year. Now, we have one more battle in the WRC2 title race.”

“That was a lot of fun,” said Oliver. “But it would be nice if Chile was a little bit more straightforward. We have been in this position (to win for the title) last year and it didn’t quite go our way – let’s hope we can turn that around next week. I love Chile, the rally is a really nice one; the roads are great and the people, the fans are fantastic.

“Since Paraguay, we have been travelling a little bit to the south of South America – we went down to Punta Arenas, the city most south in Chile. It was super-cool… actually it was freezing, don’t forget, we are still in the winter in this part of the world.

“It was a really nice time to relax with my fiancée and my parents. Now, it’s time to get back to the business.”

 

Summary

We are set then for a great event, and it will be very interesting who will hold the lead at the end of Friday.

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.”

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

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	513
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	413
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	143
4	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	96

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

Well, onto the final day and we had two runs of Ouninpohja to enjoy. That would give the crews 47.96km’s to enjoy over an iconic stage. Ott would open the road throughout the two stages and would hope that they could take some points in not just the power stage but also with the points from the Sunday standings.

 

Well into SS19 Ouninpohja 1 – 23.98 km they went and Elfyn set the pace from teammates Seb and Kalle. Of course, with Ott opening the road he’d only manage to set the eighth fastest time, but this did mean he’d moved closer to the top ten. With Elfyn setting the pace ahead of Seb he further reduced the gap to third overall to just over one second.

 

Onto the final stage then, and there was drama for Ott and Adrien who both got punctures in the stage. Ott had a huge spin in top gear which was caused by the tyre delaminating. Ironically the demise of Adrien from the top ten meant that Ott finished in tenth place. The top five was Kalle, Takamoto, Seb, Thierry and Elfyn. Fastest over the two stages, Kalle took victory from Takamoto and Seb.

 

Let’s take a look at the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

 

Final Overall Classification – Rally Finland

1	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:21:51.4
2	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+39.2
3	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+45.1
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+48.1
5	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:18.8
6	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+2:01.5
7	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+4:07.4
8	M. Sesks	R. Francis	Ford Puma Rally1	+5:17.2
9	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1	+5:24.9
10	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+7:38.4

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It is an amazing feeling to win Rally Finland. It has been a long time coming, but with so much support from the fans every year, I feel super happy to win in front of them. This year everybody did a crazy amount of work to make it happen. Jonne and everybody in the team have been fantastic and we were pushing the whole weekend. It’s also a historical moment for Toyota to fill positions one to five, so everybody has done a great job. It was an intense final day on one of the most demanding stages to get right and we had to push really hard to take the points like we did.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m very happy to be back on the podium and finish in second place in Finland, which is such an important place for me and the team. ‘Kiitos paljon’ to all the Finnish fans who are cheering for me a lot. Huge thanks also to the team who are always supporting me, and especially Aaron who has been doing a great job. I’m really happy for the team and also that Kalle could finally win here after so much bad luck: we promised each other before the rally that we could be on the podium together. I can be happy with my performance this weekend and the car was working very well.”

 

Sébastien Ogier

“This is an amazing result, especially here in Finland where the team is based. I’m sure there will be a big party tonight! It’s well deserved because the team has been pushing hard the whole year and I’m glad to be a part of such a historic result. I’m also really happy for Kalle and Jonne after last year when they already deserved to win. It wasn’t the smoothest weekend for me and I was struggling a bit to keep up with the pace. But after a lot of changes during the weekend the setup was suiting me better today and it was a fantastic feeling to drive this car on this epic stage.”

 

Elfyn Evans

“It’s a really nice result for the team to have all five cars in the top five. On my side I’m a bit disappointed how the final day turned out. It was an exciting format, and we had a really good run the first time through Ouninpohja. The Power Stage didn’t go quite so brilliantly. I had a couple of places in the stage where I couldn’t get turned in like I wanted and lost too much time. Otherwise, it was a good stage, but with such fine margins, we missed out on quite a lot of extra points. But we’ll continue onto the next one.”

 

Sami Pajari

“It’s just amazing to be part of this result for Toyota. The team was really on it this weekend, so it’s really well deserved by everybody. It has been a really good weekend for us, taking a few stage wins and otherwise having some solid pace. Today was also nice driving a stage like Ouninpohja, even if we were focused mainly on just securing the result. I have really enjoyed the whole weekend, so thanks to the team and all the fans for their support.”

 

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“We were at the front of the field for most of the weekend, but suddenly we found ourselves out of the fight and it was hard to come back from that today. In the end, we took three points from Super Sunday, which was the maximum we could do. It’s hard when we are all giving it everything we have, but things are just not going our way. All we could do is have some fun in the Power Stage and look forward to the next rounds.”

Ott Tänak

“A difficult weekend, but what’s done is done, and now we focus on the next rounds. We’re going into rougher gravel events where we were very competitive at the start of the season, so I am expecting to be back on the pace again. The team had some small troubles that had big consequences, but that’s rallying – it can be cruel, but it is the nature of this sport. The championship is still open, so the fight is still on.”

 

Adrien Fourmaux

“In terms of performance, it has been a good rally for us, but a difficult one in terms of the result. We were unlucky with punctures on Saturday afternoon and again on the Power Stage, which stopped us from scoring good points. That aside, I’m happy with how we performed in Finland; there are a lot of positives for us to take into the upcoming rallies, where we should have a chance to score good points for the manufacturers’ and drivers’ championships.”

 

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“It’s been a crazy rally – honestly, it’s been one of the most enjoyable so far this season. Coming to Finland in a Rally1 car was always going to be something special, and to experience these conditions and these stages – especially Ouninpohja today – has been really nice. Finishing as the top M-Sport car and seventh overall is a great way to end the experience. I’m really looking forward now to a short break before heading to South America. A big thanks to the team and the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy for everything they do – let’s get ready for the next one.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“It’s been a real pleasure to be part of the team and to be involved with a World Rally Team – getting the kind of experience I never thought I’d have. It’s been interesting; there have been some ups and downs, but the season started well, and I think we can end the programme on a good note. Now we’ll see what the future brings.”

 

Grégoire Munster

“I made a couple of mistakes on Friday which compromised the rest of our weekend, but we made some good improvements overall. We found some solid gains on the car side that will help us in Chile – and maybe Paraguay too. There are still plenty of positives to take. We had a blast driving through the Power Stage in Ouninpohja; despite a puncture, we really enjoyed it. Now we’ve got a break, and we’ll come back stronger for the rest of the season.”

 

Romet Jürgenson WRC2

“Rally Finland has definitely been a positive experience. Result-wise, it might not be quite as strong as what we achieved in Sardinia and Estonia, but when you look at the level here, I think losing only 0.35 seconds per kilometre is a decent result. Overall, the season has been really solid – no major mistakes – and we’ve definitely improved our rally craft, which is a big positive. Working with M-Sport has been a privilege, and hopefully we’ll be back again next year.”

 

 

Oliver Solberg

“Like you can imagine,” said Oliver, “the change from emotions is quite big from Estonia to here in Finland. Winning in Tartu with the factory TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team was like a dream come true for me and Elliott.

 

“Driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 was the best moment in the best car in my life, it was incredible. I love the Yaris Rally2, but I think you can understand that it’s not quite the same. This is a rally I really enjoy, and we won here for the last two years, so I was really hoping for a similar result this time around.

“There really wasn’t anything we could do about the rock on Saturday. It just kicked the car out of the ruts and sent us to the ditch. It’s tough when this kind of thing happens. The sport can give you some incredible high moments, but it can also hurt you a little bit. On Saturday morning, we lost more time with a problem with the wipers – the rain was so bad we couldn’t see much at all.

 

“What does this mean for our [WRC2] championship? Let’s see. Like always with this series, it’s quite hard seeing where everybody is sitting and where the biggest fight is coming from; some of the drivers still have more possibilities to score points.

 

“Like always, I want to say a very big thanks to everybody from the team at Printsport for preparing the car so well for us.

 

“Now, we look forward to the next round in Paraguay. This is going to be a big adventure for us all. A first time in a new country is always really exciting. I’m looking forward to discovering the roads, the people and, of course, the incredible South American passion for motorsport.”

 

 

Summary

Well, Finland finally has a new home winner with Kalle and Jonne taking their first ever home win. It was a great win for the pairing and has really brought them into the title fight.

 

For Takamoto and Aaron a second podium of the year was well deserved. They took a number of stage wins and were right there when the two Hyundai crews had their problems.

 

Finally, Seb and Vincent had a good drive to third and another podium to add to their partnership.

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 9

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	458
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	371
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	129
4	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	85

 

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 9

1	E. Evans	176
2	K. Rovanperä	173
3	S. Ogier	163
4	O. Tänak	163
5	T. Neuville	125
6	T. Katsuta	87
7	A. Fourmaux	71
8	O. Solberg	52
9	S. Pajari	48
10	G. Munster	21

Into the second full day of action and with 142km’s over eight stages the crews had a big challenge ahead of them. Greg and Louis would open the road throughout the day. However, there was some news about a penalty for Ott and Martin which would affect them in the standings. They were given a five-minute penalty after a problem after stage seven yesterday where they pulled away from the stop control and caused some injuries to one of the scrutineers who was near the front of the car and was checking the tyres after he fell over. They also have a suspended points deduction should they have a similar penalty this year.

 

Onto the action then with SS11 Parkkola 1 – 15.51 km first up and Kalle was fastest from Elfyn and Thierry. The Welshman closed the gap a little to Seb as they battled over sixth overall. Despite opening the road, Ott was sixth fastest, just five and a half seconds from Kalle.

 

Next up was SS12 Västilä 1 – 18.94 km and Kalle was again fastest from Thierry and Adrien with the rain coming down. The Finn was really in the groove and increasing his lead over the Hyundai teammates. Martins remained to be the best of the M-Sport crews, holding eighth overall.

 

The first run of SS13 Päijälä 1 – 20.19 km saw Thierry set the pace from Takamoto and Adrien. Kalle was fourth and saw his lead reduce a little over Thierry to 9.3 seconds. Meanwhile Seb saw his lead over Elfyn increase a little as the Frenchman was faster.

 

Onto the final morning stage then, SS14 Leustu 1 – 16.44 km and Kalle once again set the pace from Adrien and Elfyn. Seb was also very fast and with Sami backing off in the wet conditions the Finn was passed by his teammate for fifth overall. Elfyn was also a bit closer courtesy of his third best time.

 

After the service break came SS15 Parkkola 2 – 15.51 km and the rain was falling for all crews throughout the stage. Seb used his experience to set the fastest time from Ott and Elfyn. Interesting that Ott’s time as the driver who was second on the road would put him second fastest as well. Elfyn passed Sami in this one for sixth position as well. At M-Sport, Martins had a misted-up windscreen meaning that he was really struggling to see. His co-driver Renaur was using his leg to try and clear the moisture with a cloth on the end of his foot. They had to pull over though and clear it before they could continue. They would lose over two minutes in the end and drop to tenth position.

 

There would be more drama in SS16 Västilä 2 – 18.94 km behind the top three of Sami, Kalle and Takamoto. The drama was in the Hyundai team as both first Adrien and then Thierry suffered right front punctures. They were also both caused at the same piece of road. They both fell from second and third to sixth and seventh positions. Seb was now in third with teammate Takamoto in second place, whilst Elfyn and Sami was fourth and fifth.

 

Onto the penultimate stage then, SS17 Päijälä 2 – 20.19 km and again Kalle was fastest from Thierry and Elfyn. The Welshman had now reduced the gap to Seb who held third overall to just 1.9 seconds. Josh was holding eighth overall, the best placed M-Sport crew.

Onto the final stage then, SS18 Leustu 2 – 16.44 km in which Kalle was fastest from Takamoto and Thierry. Elfyn was quicker than Seb as well and took four tenths of a second from third placed Seb, now just one and a half seconds from his teammate.

 

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

 

Classification after Day Two

1 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:01:28.8 2 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +36.1 3 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +42.9 4 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +44.4 5 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +59.2 6 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:54.7 7 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:23.7 8 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +3:28.3 9 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +4:27.9 10 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +4:38.7

 

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a super good day for us and the team. This afternoon the conditions were tricky in many places, but we were able to control the pace quite well. The feeling in the car was a bit more comfortable and we could still do some good times without any big risks, which is always a good sign. It will be a tricky Sunday on such a demanding stage. Everybody will be pushing hard, and of course we want to secure the win, but we also need as many points as we can for the championship.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“There were some up and downs today but at the end we came back in second place so I must be happy with that. I have mostly just been trying to manage the risk. It’s not been easy to find the balance between that approach and fighting against Seb and Elfyn, but it worked out well. Tomorrow with Super Sunday and the Power Stage, I think the decision will be easier: just go flat-out!”

 

Sébastien Ogier

“I don’t feel that I did a fantastic job today; the pace was still missing a little bit. The car is quite OK to drive but I’m somehow lacking the little things which allow me to drive on the limit, and that’s been costing time on these extremely fast roads. I still have a little idea for tomorrow and hopefully it can be a good one. Tomorrow is all about Ouninpohja: the most beautiful stage of the season and the perfect showdown for the rally. It’s always fun to drive and I’m expecting it to be spectacular with everyone pushing for points.”

 

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a good day out there for us. It’s been a tight fight with our team-mates with not a lot to separate us on most of the stages. The conditions were tricky in the first stage of the afternoon with the rain, so I was happy to get through that, and otherwise it’s been a reasonably solid and fun day and we’re looking forward to tomorrow. Ouninpohja is a stage that needs a lot of concentration, but we’ll just do the best we can and I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.”

 

Sami Pajari

“I think it has been another quite solid day for us today. We had some really close fights with Seb especially in the morning. In the afternoon I was obviously a bit careful in the rain on the first one of the loop, and then we did the fastest time on the second one. So not too bad overall and I’m still enjoying it and learning too. Tomorrow the main aim is to finish but I would like to be quick as well. Ouninpohja is such a cool stage to drive, and if you are not fully on it you are kind of wasting it, so I hope to enjoy it.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Obviously, we are very disappointed. We were on course for a good result here that could have put us back in the championship fight, but after our puncture our hopes are lost. We will try our best tomorrow but with our road position and the fight going on between the cars behind us, it will be difficult.”

 

Adrien Fourmaux

“It has been a frustrating afternoon, with both Thierry and I getting a puncture on the same corner. It’s really disappointing for the team, and so now our sole target is to push for Super Sunday points. We expect it to be drier so the cars behind will have cleaner lines, but there were big gaps on this stage last year so we will try our best and see what we can do.”

Ott Tänak

“Our plan was to drive through and get the mileage today. In the showery conditions, it was difficult to find the right rhythm to attack on the stages. Looking ahead to Super Sunday, it’s going to be a nice stage – a new one for me, but still, we know it will be a challenge. Opening the road won’t give us too many chances, but we will try to enjoy ourselves at least.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“It’s hard not to smile when you are driving on these roads – they are so much fun, especially when you can see where you are going! This morning was super-tricky with the wiper issue, but we made it through.

“Of course, Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] and me are disappointed not to be fighting for another win here, but sometimes this is the way the sport goes. There was nothing we could do for yesterday. It is like it is.

“As well as winning stages today, it’s positive to be out again taking experience of these roads and these conditions. I don’t have so much experience of fast gravel in this car. I did some testing earlier in the year, but then we were focusing more on the rougher, more technical gravel rallies.

“My test for Estonia was in the Rally1 car, which is different to this car. I’ve learned lots today, which has been useful. And tomorrow, we have Ouninpohja coming twice – that will be a cool Sunday.”

 

Sunday

Well, just one day left and with two runs of the amazing Ouninpohja stage at 23.98km’s giving a total final day of 47.96km’s there is still a serious amount of kilometres left in the rally. The question is can Kalle and Jonne take a first win on home soil for themselves and also the first win for a Finnish crew since Esapekka and Janne won in 2017 also for Toyota. Also, can Elfyn pass Seb for third place?

The first full day of this iconic rally started early for the crews and teams with stage two at just after eight in the morning local time. The previous evening the first stage was run and the top three was Ott from Thierry and Seb.

 

First up was SS2 Laukaa 1 – 17.96 km and it was Sami who set the pace in this one from his teammates Takamoto and Kalle. Takamoto jumped up five positions into the overall lead, with Kalle into second, whilst the stage winner moved into fourth. Of course, Ott who was opening the road dropped to eighth position. Martins was the leading M-Sport crew holding ninth overall after climbing two positions.

 

Next up was SS3 Saarikas 1 – 15.78 km and Kalle was fastest this time from Adrien and Sami. The Finn moved into the lead, whilst Adrien was up to second place. Takamoto fell from the lead into fifth place, but things were very close at the top with less than four seconds covering the top five.

 

Into SS4 Myhinpää 1 – 14.47 km and Kalle was again fastest from Elfyn and Adrien third. It was a good time from Elfyn who made the most of his road position despite being second into the stage. The gaps were widening a little with Kalle now four seconds ahead of second placed Adrien. Greg did overshoot at a chicane after losing the rear but completed the stage.

 

The final morning stage then before service, SS5 Ruuhimäki 1 – 7.76 km saw Sami set the fastest time again from Takamoto and Thierry. It was so close though that they both moved past Thierry pushing him down to fifth place. The overall top three was now Kalle from Adrien and Sami. Further back Elfyn’s position in the top six was coming under threat from his teammate Seb who had reduced the gap between them to just four tenths of a second.

 

After the service break SS6 Laukaa 2 – 17.96 km was next and Takamoto was fastest this time from Thierry and Kalle. The Japanese star saw this pace lift him two positions and into second overall. He’d even reduced Kalle’s lead to 3.3 seconds. The two drivers who lost out were Thierry and Sami and they were now in fourth and fifth overall. Ott continued to struggle and now Martins was getting closer to the Estonian with just seven tenths of a second between them.

Kalle came back to the top of the stage timesheets with the fastest time in SS7 Saarikas 2 – 15.78 km from Sami and Adrien. Thierry moved back into second overall pushing Takamoto down one place. There were changes further down as Seb passed Elfyn for sixth place and also Martins passed Ott moving into seventh place overall. The Latvian was really finding the pace after setting the sixth best time. Sadly, we lost Oliver and Elliott in this one from WRC2 as they rolled out after hitting a rock that was on the line.

 

Into SS8 Myhinpää 2 – 14.47 km and incredibly Adrien and Kalle set an identical stage time with Thierry and Seb doing the same for the second fastest time! Adrien moved into third overall whilst Takamoto again fell to fourth place albeit on the same overall time as the Frenchman. The gap between Seb and Elfyn was growing, the gap now 5.1 seconds as they maintained sixth and seventh overall.

 

Onto the final proper stage of the day then, SS9 Ruuhimäki 2 – 7.76 km and Thierry was quickest from Seb and Kalle. The Finn remained the overall leader from Thierry and Adrien. Takamoto was just a single tenth of a second behind Adrien.

 

The final stage then a second run for SS10 Harju 2 – 2.58 km completed the day with Adrien going fastest from Thierry and Takamoto. Less than ten seconds covered the top four.

 

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 56:31.6 2 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +4.9 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +7.7 4 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +8.1 5 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +15.7 6 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +17.6 7 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +26.0 8 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +40.5 9 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +1:06.0 10 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:07.2

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a good Friday for us. It’s nice to be fighting for the top positions and there’s a lot of people cheering for us, so we’re enjoying it. The feeling behind the wheel is still maybe not the best, but we have been pushing hard and we have been able to be fast: we’ve been doing a lot of work to find more pace and it seems to be better. This afternoon was tricky after the rain came in but still we managed to do some good times and hold onto the lead, and hopefully we can continue in a good way tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I had quite a good feeling from the start this morning. I struggled a bit on some stages, but we made some small changes on the car, and it felt better straightaway. When the rain came for the afternoon I felt it was time to push I immediately had a good feeling and set the fastest time. After that the feeling was still good, there were a few tricky ruts and bumps, and I lost some time from that. But still the gaps are small, there’s a long way to go and I’ll keep focused and keep pushing.”

 

Sami Pajari

“It’s been a really solid day for us. The morning was really good, with two stage wins and to be up in third place overall, and still there were some places where I felt I could improve. This afternoon the conditions were not so easy, but still, we are not too far from the lead. Everyone is really close and it’s hard to make big differences. It’s really cool to be in the fight on our home rally, and it’s nice how much the crowd is cheering, so I’m sure there’s another two days of enjoyment to come.”

 

Sébastien Ogier

“The conditions haven’t been easy today. This morning in the dry there was a bit of cleaning for us, and maybe I wasn’t committed enough in a few places and lost a bit of time. This afternoon the rain was also a bit challenging for those of us at the front, but it wasn’t too bad. There’s a couple of things that could have been a bit better, but we’re still not that far from the podium places and that’s what we need to fight for tomorrow.”

 

Elfyn Evans

“We had a good start this morning. There was a little bit of cleaning with the loose gravel like we expected after the hot and dry weather. I think we were pretty strong considering and the times were really close. Unfortunately, the afternoon was quite tricky after the rain with a lot of standing water in the ruts, so the conditions didn’t really work in our favour. So, a bit disappointed with the day overall, but tomorrow’s a big day and there can still be some surprises with the weather, so we’ll just keep doing the best we can.”

 

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I really enjoyed this afternoon. The car was working well, and while Kalle is still very fast, we are not far away. It was challenging in the ruts, there’s usually standing water, so you’re having to look quite far ahead to judge the risk, while also staying present in the moment with the car. It wasn’t easy, but I’m pretty happy with how we’ve done today. If we can carry that into the new sections and stages tomorrow, we will be fine.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“I’m happy with how today has gone and the pace we have had in these tricky conditions. We managed to keep Takamoto behind us, which is really positive for us. I was a bit faster than Thierry in the dry, but he is faster on the wet, so I’m hoping we have drier weather tomorrow! However, we are expecting some rain, but I think having a later road position will be to our advantage in that regard.”

 

Ott Tänak

“With the roads improving with every car on the road this morning, we just didn’t have the pace to over-drive the deficit as first on the road. It was unfortunate that the car snapped under braking on SS7, and the impact caused damage to our cooling system. We then couldn’t stop as the engine was overheating, so it was difficult to come through the remaining stages this afternoon.”

 

 

Oliver Solberg

“Coming so soon after winning Rally Estonia, this is kind of hard to take,” said Oliver. “The change of emotion is quite incredible in less than two weeks. Really, there was nothing we could do here – we were committed to the line, the rock kicked the car out of the ruts and into the ditch.

“It caught me really by surprise. It’s really frustrating – it’s not like I was pushing super-hard and taking big risks. I’m sorry for the team, but let’s hope we can be back tomorrow.”

 

Saturday

The second full day of action will continue with 142km’s over eight stages. Can Kalle keep the lead or will those behind move past him?