Adrien Fourmaux leads Rally del Paraguay by 4.1 seconds over Kalle Rovanperä after the opening loop of four stages.
A brand-new addition to the World Rally Championship, nobody knew what to expect from Paraguay but the rally has already delivered in drama.
Fourmaux and two-time champion Rovanperä have been impervious though; both stretching clear of the rest with Rovanperä leading after SS1 and SS2, but Fourmaux overhauled him after the third test and extended his lead on the short Autódromo stage by winning the test.
“I’m really satisfied with the morning,” said Fourmaux. “I don’t like the first stage of the day but the rest is quite nice. The grip is different to normal and it’s good practice for everybody. Let’s see for the afternoon.”
Thierry Neuville is 18.4s off the lead but a surprise fourth considering how unhappy he’s been aboard his Hyundai i20 N Rally1.
He started the superspecial stage level with Toyota’s third-placed Sami Pajari, but lost 0.4s on the stage as Elfyn Evans completed the top five, just 0.9s in arrears of Neuville.
Ott Tänak has endured a complicated morning – his wipers dislodging themselves after a heavy compression on SS1, and then an excursion on SS3 costing him his front splitter as well as several seconds.
He’s 1.1s behind his title rival Evans after four stages: “It’s difficult to say what’s happening, but lots of things are happening,” Tänak said.
Sébastien Ogier was second fastest on the opening test but gave up over half a minute on the second with a rear-right puncture. Ogier admitted that was “annoying” but his back with a strong stage win on SS3 – ending the loop seventh and 34.4s off the lead.
“Speed is good, feeling is not too bad but obviously this 40s lost is going to be tough to catch,” Ogier commented.
Josh McErlean is eighth for M-Sport ahead of Takamoto Katsuta who punctured on the opening stage, and then briefly went off on the third.
Grégoire Munster is 45 minutes off the pace after stopping for over 40 just 900 meters onto the opening stage. The M-Sport man clipped a rock which broke a steering arm and his front brakes, but he and Louis Louka managed to replace the steering arm and complete the loop of stages.
Oliver Solberg’s WRC2 title challenge took a hit on the third stage when he collected a rear-right puncture and lost over a minute.
That dumped the Swede down to 10th, with Diego Domínguez Jr leading the category on his home event by 11.0s over Yohan Rossel. Another Paraguayan, Fabrizio Zaldivar, is third ahead of Nikolay Gryazin.
Gus Greensmith had been fifth but his rear suspension, which had been wearing, completely collapsed at the end of SS4 – both his Škoda’s rear wheels hanging off at the end of the stage.
