The opening day of Rally Paraguay turned into a tire nightmare for many, and Hankook, WRC's sole tire supplier, has finally spoken out after a wave of punctures and delaminations hit the front-runners on the season's longest loop.
Takamoto Katsuta was the only Rally1 driver not affected by tire issues, but he rolled his Toyota on the very first corner. From then on, tire performance dictated the leaderboard on the abrasive 48-mile stages.
Unexpected heat and rougher roads than last year took their toll, forcing world champions Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville to retire on Friday morning.
Ogier's teammate Elfyn Evans and Oliver Solberg both led at different points, only to drop back with punctures. Sami Pajari, however, emerged relatively unscathed—just a third-stage delamination—and now leads Hayden Paddon's Hyundai by 11 seconds.
Hankook's Steven Cho admitted the difficulty of having just two compounds of the same Dynapro tire for all loose-surface events. "The conditions were very hard. We have a good tire, but it's not really possible to ask one product to give the speed and performance in Estonia and Finland, and then bring that same product to Kenya or here," he told DirtFish.
Cho explained that most delaminations were due to tires wearing down completely. "The abrasiveness of the road was higher than we expected. High wear rate, then delamination makes sense," he added.
Drivers had their say too. Adrien Fourmaux suffered a double delamination on the last full-length stage, while Evans gave a guarded response: "How long have you got? I don't know how much I'm allowed to say."
With tire issues dominating the rally, Hankook now faces tough questions about their product's versatility. The answer could shape the rest of the WRC season.
Baca Juga
Hayden Paddon tampil mengejutkan di Rally Paraguay, duduk di posisi kedua di depan para bintang WRC. Sami Pajari memimpin, sementara hujan diprediksi mengubah peta persaingan.
Rally Paraguay 2026 hari pertama diwarnai drama ban pecah. Sami Pajari tampil konsisten dan memimpin klasemen, unggul dari Hayden Paddon dan Elfyn Evans.
Sami Pajari memimpin Rally Paraguay setelah Evans kena bocor ban. Pebalap Toyota itu mengincar kemenangan ketiga beruntun dengan keunggulan 11,9 detik atas Paddon.
Lanjutkan dengan Google
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