Championship leader Elfyn Evans was dealt a heavy blow on SS7 of Rally Paraguay when a puncture cost him over a minute, dropping the Toyota driver from the lead to third place. The Welshman limped to the finish on the bare rim, a decision that proved wiser than stopping to change the tyre, which would have lost him even more time.
Evans now trails his team-mate Sami Pajari by 56.2 seconds, with Pajari inheriting the rally lead after setting the fastest time on the Yerbateras stage. Pajari beat team-mate Oliver Solberg by a tenth of a second, while Hayden Paddon in the Hyundai also suffered a late puncture, losing around 20 seconds and dropping to second overall, 12.4 seconds behind.
Pajari's clean drive, Fourmaux's roulette
"I drove really cleanly. It is a complete lottery whether you get punctures or not. We have to be happy with the last couple of stages. We are still only at the beginning of the rally, though. A lot can still happen," Pajari commented.
Fourth-placed Adrien Fourmaux was in trouble again, damaging both rear tyres and losing almost a minute. "We knew this before the stage. We have too many weird things with the tyres, four tyres with damage on it. I don't give up, for sure. It's crazy. We can't play with these tools. These kinds of things are like casino," he said.
M-Sport Ford's Josh McErlean is fifth after a tyre change on Friday's final proper special stage, just under two and a half minutes off the lead. One more special stage remains on Friday, with the rally concluding on Sunday. The tyre lottery is far from over.
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