The Rally del Paraguay lead changed hands again as Hayden Paddon suffered a puncture on SS6, handing the advantage to Elfyn Evans. The front-right tire on Paddon's Hyundai i20 N deflated with around two miles of the 10-mile Nueva Alborada remaining. The New Zealander did well to manage the time loss and avoid further damage, but the 22.7 seconds dropped to Evans were enough to put the Toyota driver into the lead by 0.5s.
"There's obviously a lot of rocks but I didn't touch anything," said Paddon, adding with a wry smile: "It was probably our turn though. It's only fair that we all have our go at it. I tried to manage the last couple of kilometers, not damage the car too much because obviously we've got the long one ahead."
The first two stages of the afternoon loop were much less dramatic than in the morning, but as Paddon noted, the longest stage – the 21 miles of Yerbateras – still remains, along with the short blast around Autodromo. Evans overhauled M-Sport driver Josh McErlean to take second overall on the first stage of the afternoon, before benefiting from Paddon's misfortune.
The second Toyota of Sami Pajari then further demoted McErlean to fourth on SS6. After his earlier water-leak issue, Pajari is now just 8.9s off the rally lead in third overall, 0.9s ahead of McErlean. Fastest of all through SS5 and SS6 was Adrien Fourmaux. The Hyundai driver, who had to stop to change a wheel on the morning loop, is now just over a minute behind McErlean in fifth overall.
Local star Diego Dominguez dropped behind Fourmaux but continues to lead WRC2 in sixth overall. Among the other Rally1 runners, Oliver Solberg had two clean stages but remains nearly four minutes off the lead after his earlier dramas. Jon Armstrong was hit with a penalty of more than two minutes when his Ford Puma was late leaving service, dropping him behind Solberg, more than four minutes behind the leader.
Baca Juga
Jaspar Vaher, pembalap muda Toyota, menggandeng Janni Hussi sebagai co-driver baru. Simak analisis dampak perubahan ini untuk karier Vaher dan performa tim.
Sami Pajari memimpin Reli Paraguay setelah Elfyn Evans kena ban bocor di SS7. Paddon dan Fourmaux juga terpengaruh. Persaingan WRC makin ketat.
Hayden Paddon kehilangan pimpinan Rally Paraguay setelah puncture di SS6, memberi jalan bagi Elfyn Evans memimpin dengan selisih 0,5 detik.
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