Rally of Paraguay 2026, Day 2: Pajari drops from the lead and extends

The second day of the Paraguay Rally ended without any stage wins for Sami Pajari, but despite this the Finn remains firmly the leader of the penultimate round of the championship. The #5 Toyota driver, just like at the end of Day 1, maintained the lead ahead of his closest pursuers Hayden Paddon and Elfyn Evans, in a Saturday where Adrien Fourmaux stood out particularly. The chances of success, which would be Pajari’s second consecutive after the one obtained at home, are becoming increasingly concrete for the latter, who enjoys a 24-second advantage over the New Zealander and almost a minute over the championship leader.

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SS9-SS12: top three unchanged

Unlike yesterday, when twists and turns occurred repeatedly from the first morning stages until the end of the Paraguayan afternoon (with a violent thunderstorm at night), the first half of Day 2 saw no retirements, no punctures, and no accidents (at least concerning participants in the top WRC series). The top three in the overall standings remained unchanged throughout the morning, with Pajari firmly in command ahead of Paddon and Evans, the latter still setting the best time in SS9. From the following stage to SS12, however, only French drivers topped each stage: while in SS10 Adrien Fourmaux finished first for the fifth time with his Hyundai, Sébastien Ogier redeemed himself in the next two stages after retiring on Day 1 due to suspension damage. Except for the last morning round, Pajari always finished in the top 5, which allowed the Finn to present himself to the afternoon stages with a 23-second lead over Paddon and a gap of almost a minute over Evans.

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SS13-SS17: Fourmaux’s performances

The first three Paraguayan stages opened in the sign of Adrien Fourmaux, always setting the best time from SS13 to SS15. Despite this, Pajari managed to keep the rally lead, although he made some mistakes especially at the end of the day. In the penultimate stage, where Ogier finished first, the Toyota driver did not go beyond 9th place, allowing Paddon and Evans to recover ground in the standings, with the latter finishing respectively in sixth and seventh positions. Day 2 of the South American rally saw the return of Katsuta as a protagonist, who shortly after the start of SS1 had rolled over: the Japanese driver indeed returned to first place in a special stage, with Pajari once again outside the top 5. However, the Finn managed to do better than his closest pursuers, presenting himself to tomorrow’s Super Sunday again as rally leader.

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Paraguay Rally 2026, standings after SS17 (Top-10)