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.
Baca Juga
Sami Pajari memimpin Rally Paraguay setelah Evans kena bocor ban. Pebalap Toyota itu mengincar kemenangan ketiga beruntun dengan keunggulan 11,9 detik atas Paddon.
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.
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