Will it be Esapekka Lappi, Dani Sordo or Hayden Paddon for Paraguay and Chile?
We still don’t know, and for good reason. The team itself doesn’t either.
Hyundai has used all three drivers at various points throughout the 2026 World Rally Championship season to partner full-time pilots Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux.
Paddon contested most of the Tarmac rounds – Monte Carlo, Croatia and Japan – while Sordo got the nod for Canarias, Portugal and Greece. Lappi was selected for Sweden, Kenya and Estonia, and is back in the car for this week’s Rally Finland.
But the decision over who’ll drive the third i20 N Rally1 at the upcoming South American events, Paraguay and Chile, won’t be taken until the conclusion of Rally Finland.
Paddon is keen for a chance on gravel after three asphalt outings
Entries close for Rally Paraguay (August 27-30) today (Tuesday July 28), but the entry list will not be published until the Monday after Finland (August 3).
Hyundai sporting director Andrew Wheatley told DirtFish: “The intention is to decide immediately after Finland, because that gives us a full width of information about the performances that we’ve had.
“And I think it would probably be a bit unfair to make too many decisions without having all the information on the table.
“But the difficult thing is we have three drivers that all want to do it – and that’s good.”
None of the three drivers have contested Rally Paraguay, which debuted in the championship last year.
Lappi has contested Rally Chile three times but finished only once
Neither Paddon nor Sordo have driven Rally Chile either, while Lappi has done it three times.
That doesn’t make Lappi a shoo-in though, with Paddon known to be keen on a gravel outing and Wheatley previously admitting he’s earned one.
“Absolutely, there’s a chance [for Paddon],” he reiterated.
“He’s done a good job so far this year. So, yeah, absolutely there’s a chance.”
