On the eve of the South American rally, everything seemed ready at Toyota for celebrating the tenth world championship victory, but this did not happen. The Japanese manufacturer is still one step away from this milestone, but in the meantime can ‘console’ itself with the third consecutive win of Sami Pajari, who is becoming a constant threat to the championship leader Elfyn Evans. Although finishing 4th at the Rally of Paraguay, the Welshman remains at the top of the world championship standings, but with a lead of 20 points over the Finn, the only Toyota driver to reach the podium at the end of this weekend. Precisely because of this, with Paddon’s 2nd place and Fourmaux’s 3rd, Hyundai denied the world championship joy to their Japanese rivals, with the Korean manufacturer still trailing by 173 points in the overall standings, very difficult to recover in just three events, all with the Saudi Arabia Rally seriously at risk of being canceled.
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Driver Standings after the 2026 Paraguay Rally (Round 10, top 10)
| POS. | DRIVER | CAR | POINTS |
| 1 | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | 216 |
| 2 | Sami Pajari | Toyota | 196 |
| 3 | Oliver Solberg | Toyota | 175 |
| 4 | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | 160 |
| 5 | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | 149 |
| 6 | Sébastien Ogier | Toyota | 148 |
| 7 | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | 129 |
| 8 | Hayden Paddon | Hyundai | 38 |
| 9 | Joshua McErlean | Ford | 29 |
| 10 | Esapekka Lappi | Hyundai | 25 |
Team Standings
| POS. | TEAM | POINTS |
| 1 | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | 554 |
| 2 | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | 381 |
| 3 | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 | 210 |
| 4 | M-Sport Ford WRT | 138 |