Sébastien Ogier boosted his bid for a record-equalling ninth World Rally Championship title by recording a stunning fightback from eighth to win the inaugural Rally Paraguay.
Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais bounced back from an early puncture for a fourth win of their partial 2025 campaign on Paraguay’s unknown and unforgiving gravel stages that yielded plenty of drama.
They sealed victory by 26.2s after surviving a final stage rain shower as championship leader Elfyn Evans and reigning champion Thierry Neuville snatched second and third.
Ogier and Kalle Rovanpera are now nine points behind leader Evans, while Toyota joined Citroen as the WRC’s most successful manufacturer for rally wins, with 102 apiece.
Neuville fought handling issues with his Hyundai throughout the rally, while also suffering tyre problems. The Belgian finished the rally with a broken front damper but managed to claim 25 points after bagging the maximum Super Sunday score.
Tanak’s second rally setback dropped the 2019 world champion to fifth [+30.6s] ahead of fellow title rival Rovanpera [+2m05.2s], with Pajari in seventh [+3m35.5s]. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta finished the event under super rally conditions after crashing out from ninth in stage seven, having been delayed by a puncture in the opening stage.
M-Sport-Ford endured a difficult event that included a double retirement for Josh McErlean and Gregoire Munster on Saturday due to similar bedrock impacts that caused oil leaks from their respective Ford Pumas.
McErlean had impressed, running as high as seventh before the retirement, while Munster stopped 900 metres into the opening stage with a broken steering arm and brake line, before picking up a double puncture.
Oliver Solberg edged a step closer to the WRC2 title after completing an impressive comeback win after dropping 1m13s to a puncture on Friday. Solberg took the win by 22.5s from title rival Yohan Rossel.
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