On a dramatic debut day for Paraguay in the World Rally Championship, Kalle Rovanperä avoided the drama to lead the rally by 7.1 seconds over Adrien Fourmaux.
Rovanperä had won the opening stage by 3.2 seconds, but very quickly found himself under pressure from Hyundai’s Fourmaux, who duly took the lead after the third test.
The Frenchman began building on his advantage until a puncture on the day’s penultimate stage cost him almost 20s and dropped him to second.
That gave Rovanperä the lead back, but the two-time world champion was aware he hadn’t been the quickest on Friday.
“Position wise it’s good but I can’t say I’m so happy about the performance,” he concluded. “We haven’t been the fastest guy today, it’s been a bit of a struggle to be honest. We have to try to be better tomorrow.”
Fourmaux ended the day just 0.5s ahead of team-mate Ott Tänak who battled through some physical pain caused by the bumpy and jumpy Cambyretá test – a stage many drivers felt was too aggressive in that sense.
Fourmaux was unlucky not to lead overnight
Fourmaux meanwhile was looking at the positives, despite losing a well-earned lead: “It’s part of rallying unfortunately, but I’m pleased with the day. It’s a shame we are not leading tonight but there are still two long days to do.”
Sébastien Ogier’s Friday was a case of what might have been – ending it fourth and 17.7s off the lead, but losing 37.3s on SS2 with a rear-right puncture.
“After the misfortune of this morning for sure we can be happy with the rest of the day,” Ogier said. “We pushed as much as we could – we’re still far from the lead but it’s much better than after stage two.”
Championship leader Elfyn Evans is 3.3s adrift of Ogier overnight, not impressed by his own driving standards. Thierry Neuville is sixth, 4.6s behind Evans and 25.7s off the lead.
Josh McErlean lies seventh ahead of Sami Pajari who lost over two minutes on SS7 when he stopped to change a tire. Takamoto Katsuta had been hunting McErlean down but ripped a wheel off his Toyota on the penultimate stage and retired for the leg.
Grégoire Munster suffered an insanely difficult day – stopping just 900m into the first stage for over 40 minutes to change a steering arm after an impact. He then completed the morning loop without front brakes.
A heavy impact on the afternoon’s opener complicated things further as it left Munster in some pain, and dislodged the rear wing and front splitter of his Ford Puma Rally1.
“It’s been a horrible day for us! For sure it’s not what we are here for but we managed to finish the day,” Munster commented.
Yohan Rossel leads WRC2 on what could be a pivotal day in the championship battle. Oliver Solberg had been second (behind Diego Domínguez) but lost over a minute to a puncture, dropping him to sixth.
Gus Greensmith had been fighting for the podium places but retired after the morning loop when the rear axle on his Škoda gave up – likely due to a major impact on SS1.
The other title contender, Nikolay Gryazin, is second – 9.1s behind Rossel with local driver Domínguez third.
