Thursday night and the skatepark is closed. This 13-year-old is not impressed. He takes off his helmet, picks up his skateboard and snaps the rest of this world about this latest injustice. Turning on his heel, he’s stopped in his tracks, confronted by Fabrizio Zaldivar and his Hyundai i20 N Rally2.
Our friend’s back on social media, but this time he’s frantically beaming pictures of rally cars to the rest of the world. This is the Sambódromo in Encarnación. The place is jumping, full of people with an atmosphere that’s charged with anticipation and expectation. It’s not your normal Thursday night in Paraguay’s far south.
The noise goes up a number or two when a black Toyota GR Yaris arrives. It’s a zero car, complete with flashing orange lights on the roof. And the country’s president behind the wheel. Santiago Peña steps out, resplendent in a Rally del Paraguay polo shirt and jeans. He’s smiling his smile and embracing those drivers and key event personnel who have helped him put his country on the right road to World Rally Championship glory.
This is round five of the Paraguayan national series. More importantly, it’s Paraguay’s full dress rehearsal for the round 10 of the 2025 WRC.
Not all of the big players and heavy hitters are to be seen, however. The one man who probably deserves the biggest hug from Peña is nowhere to be seen. More pertinently, he’s not in the same place long enough to be seen. Omar Avila is a very busy man right now.
Avila is the guy. Technically, he’s the CEO of Rally del Paraguay, but in reality his remit is far wider than that.
Prior to this position, he was the location manager with WRC Promoter, the person in charge of making sure everything and everybody was in the right place at the right time. Earlier this year, in a small change from his usual role, he was working with the organizers of Rally Argentina in an effort to bring Córdoba back to the WRC as soon as possible. Everything was going well, until it wasn’t.
“When we realized it wasn’t going to be possible for next year with Argentina,” Avila tells DirtFish, “I picked up the telephone to a friend in Paraguay. I knew this person had good contacts with the president and I knew there was an interest to the WRC.
“Things moved quickly and 45 days after that call, we were in the office of the president with Simon [Larkin, event director WRC Promoter] and all the right people talking them through the plan.”
Plenty of Paraguay's 40-plus Rally2 cars will be inaction on the roads around Encarnación this weekend
This weekend is the latest phase of that plan. But as he walks – runs – through the city’s civic center, even Omar has to stop and take it in briefly. The crowds are enormous. The reception is bigger than anybody might have imagined. And it’s not just for those packing the grandstands around the ceremonial start, it’s available to the wider country live from Paraguay’s biggest broadcaster.
“Don’t underestimate how big the sport of rallying is in Paraguay. It’s huge,” says Avila. “It’s the second biggest [sport, behind football] in the country. You know I’m from Argentina and I love my country, but there’s no way that rallying is the second biggest sport at home. Rallying is huge in Argentina, but here it’s something else…
“There are more than 40 Rally2 and R5 cars competing regularly here. I was told that when Toyota sent GR Yaris Rally2 cars outside of Europe they sent them to two places first: Australia and here. Talk to people from Škoda Motorsport, ask them how many cars and how many spare parts are being sent out here. It’s massive.
“The WRC has always been something people dreamed of here. The president himself is a fan for the sport. He understands what the sport can bring.”
Does he? What does President Peña say?
President Peña (second from the left) is already a very big fan of the WRC and the rewards it will bring his nation
“Paraguay is big, and the world is in the process of discovering us. Hosting world-class events such as the WRC, is yet another way to show the world our greatness.”
He gets it. And if he was in any doubt, he definitely gets it after that welcome on Thursday night.
Paraguay hasn’t turned a wheel in WRC action yet and won’t for another 11 months, but if ever there’s a country ready for it, it’s this one. And the WRC is ready for South America as well.
Chile’s great and the appreciation for the WRC at last year’s ceremonial start was encouraging, but Concepción has a tough task in trying to follow in the footsteps of its neighbor to the east across the Andes. Talk to anybody and everybody involved in the sport about Argentina and you’ll begin to understand just how special the place was, and is, in the history of rallying.
Chile has struggled to mirror that fervour, that dedication to sleeping beneath the stars for three or four nights in an effort to stand roadside to watch the world’s finest rattle between the rocks on El Condor. You get the feeling Paraguay will stand toe-to-toe when it comes to fever.
And anyway, Paraguay’s round is borderline Rally Argentina. Literally.
Pointing out across the Paraná River, Avila smiles.
In 11 months. the WRC's finest will be tearing it down roads like this
“It’s just there,” he said. “Córdoba, you can fly there in just over two hours from here. Or you can take the bus.”
And you don’t even have to get your feet wet – a 10-minute train ride across the San Roque González de Santa Cruz Bridge to Posadas and you’ve gone from Paraguay to Argentina.
“And not so far in that direction?” says Avila, swinging around to point to his three o’clock, “it’s Brazil. Uruguay is also fairly close. It’s why we went for this location. That and the great roads. Honestly, South America has been waiting for this moment. I really believe Argentina will be back as well and we have such a great collection of events to deliver the best sport to some of the most excited fans in the world.”
Standing watching, Paraguay’s President Peña couldn’t agree more. His government has put rallying front and center in a forward-looking economic policy which will deliver enormous fiscal benefit… and bring the world’s fastest rally cars to his backyard.
No wonder our skateboarding friend was smiling.
