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Autosport

Ogier rockets to WRC Rally Paraguay lead as Rovanpera suffers puncture

Toyota Ford Rovanpera (Organization) Sébastien Ogier Hyundai Elfyn Evans Paraguay GR (Organization) MSport Škoda

Sébastien Ogier moved into the Rally Paraguay lead after World Rally Championship title rival Kalle Rovanperä became the latest to suffer a costly puncture.

Eight-time world champion Ogier will head into Sunday’s final four stages 10.3s ahead of Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux, with championship leader Elfyn Evans in third [+36.6s], after a dramatic turn of events on Paraguay’s loose gravel stages.

Ogier dropped to as low as eighth on Friday after losing more than half a minute to a puncture. Since that setback, the Frenchman has thrown caution to the wind and rocketed up the leaderboard to fourth at the start of Saturday.

The Toyota driver climbed to third when Hyundai’s Ott Tanak dropped from second to sixth when the latter suffered a left rear puncture in stage 10. Ogier then rattled off fastest times in stage 10 and stage 12 to close to within 0.5s of Fourmaux, who hung on to second at midday service.

Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1 (Photo by: M-Sport)

Third quickly became second when Ogier, having gambled on carrying only one spare wheel, continued his stunning pace on Saturday afternoon. Ogier won stage 13 to move ahead of Fourmaux and cut Rovanpera’s rally lead down to 14.4s.

The battle for the victory was then turned on its head when Rovanpera picked up a front right puncture midway through 22.73km pass through Artigas 2. The two-time world champion opted against stopping to change the wheel, and lost a whopping 2m38.0s, dropping from the lead to sixth.

“No idea. We got a puncture from somewhere there was no real big hit so I don’t know,” said Rovanpera, who ended Saturday 2m21.2s adrift of the lead.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 (Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool)

“Obviously we should have changed the tyre. Jonne [Halttunen co-driver] was saying we should go to the end and I didn’t know how much we had left, and clearly it was a wrong decision this time but that is how it is.”

Now in the lead, Ogier managed to extend his lead over Fourmaux despite admitting that his run through the day's final stage wasn’t his best.

Evans managed to hold onto third after another difficult day struggling to find the feeling and confidence behind the wheel of his GR Yaris.The Welshman is, however, the only Rally1 driver not to encounter a serious tyre issue to date this weekend.

Evans will head into Sunday with a slender 2.5s margin over Tanak, who battled back from his puncture woes to overtake reigning world champion Thierry Neuville.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1 (Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport)

Neuville continued to cut a frustrated figure after being unable to unlock pace from his Hyundai i20 N. The Belgian did climb to fifth [+46.8s] following Rovanpera’s tyre issue.

Toyota’s Sami Pajari held seventh as the Finn continued to recover from a costly puncture on Friday after running as high as third. 

Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1 (Photo by: M-Sport)

M-Sport Ford duo Josh McErlean and Gregoire Munster were forced to retire due to impacts to the sump guard of their Ford Pumas in stage nine. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta rejoined the rally after his crash on Friday.

Close battle in Rally2

Robert Virves, Jakko Viilo, Toksport WRT Skoda Fabia Evo Rally2 (Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool)

The Artigas stage shook up the battle for the victory in WRC2 as a puncture for leader Nikolay Gryazin after hitting an object in the middle of the road forced him to change a wheel.

Robert Virves inherited a 6.5s lead over Oliver Solberg, as his impressive recovery from a Friday puncture continued, with Yohan Rossel in third. However, Solberg felt he should be awarded some time back from rally organisers after getting caught in the dust of the recovering Fabrizio Zaldivar, who had been delayed by an off-road excursion.

“Full dust, full dust I lost five seconds at least because of him [Zaldivar] at the end now. It is all the braking points at the end so I really hope I can get some time back, that was not good,” said Solberg.

Four stages, compromising 79.50 kilometres, await the crews on Sunday.

   
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Cla Driver/Codriver # Car Penalty Total Time Interval
1 France S. Ogier France V. Landais Toyota Racing 17 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1  

2:08'39.5

  
2 France A. Fourmaux France A. Coria Hyundai Motorsport 16 Hyundai i20 N Rally1  

+9.2

2:08'48.7

 9.2
3 United Kingdom E. Evans United Kingdom S. Martin Toyota Racing 33 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1  

+34.6

2:09'14.1

 25.4
4 Estonia O. Tanak Estonia M. Jarveoja Hyundai Motorsport 8 Hyundai i20 N Rally1  

+40.7

2:09'20.2

 6.1
5 Belgium T. Neuville Belgium M. Wydaeghe Hyundai Motorsport 1 Hyundai i20 N Rally1  

+42.6

2:09'22.1

 1.9
6 Finland K. Rovanperä Finland J. Halttunen Toyota Racing 69 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1  

+2'23.6

2:11'03.1

 1'41.0
7 Finland S. Pajari Finland M. Salminen Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 5 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1  

+3'10.6

2:11'50.1

 47.0
8
R. Virves
J. Viilo Toksport WRT
23 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+5'14.5

2:13'54.0

 2'03.9
9 France Y. Rossel
A. Dunand PH Sport
21 Citroën C3 Rally2  

+5'22.6

2:14'02.1

 8.1
10 Sweden O. Solberg United Kingdom E. Edmondson Printsport 20 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2  

+5'26.6

2:14'06.1

 4.0
11 Bulgaria N. Gryazin Russian Federation K. Aleksandrov Toksport WRT 26 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+6'47.7

2:15'27.2

 1'21.1
12
F. Zaldivar
Argentina M. Der Ohannesian 		25 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+7'26.7

2:16'06.2

 39.0
13
A. Miguel Bestard Poletti
B. Rozada
36 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+9'18.3

2:17'57.8

 1'51.6
14
M. González
F. Mendonca
46 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+12'00.0

2:20'39.5

 2'41.7
15
F. Pappalardo
J. Pablo Carrera
40 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+13'34.7

2:22'14.2

 1'34.7
16
T. Weiler
J. Sanchez
34 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2  

+13'57.7

2:22'37.2

 23.0
17
M. Zaldivar Sr
United States R. Garcia 		38 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+15'08.6

2:23'48.1

 1'10.9
18
M. Fontana
A. Arnaboldi
50 Ford Fiesta Rally3  

+17'30.7

2:26'10.2

 2'22.1
19
L. Ortega
L. Suaya
44 Volkswagen Polo GTI R5  

+18'14.2

2:26'53.7

 43.5
20 Ireland J. McErlean Ireland E. Treacy M-Sport 55 Ford Puma Rally1  

+19'03.3

2:27'42.8

 49.1
21
G. Rossi
K. Sarmezan
51 Ford Fiesta Rally3  

+19'49.6

2:28'29.1

 46.3
22
G. Saba
Mexico J. Diaz 		32 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2  

+20'40.9

2:29'20.4

 51.3
23
E. Castro
J. Echazu
56 Ford Fiesta Rally3  

+21'18.5

2:29'58.0

 37.6
24 Japan T. Katsuta Ireland A. Johnston Toyota Racing 18 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1  

+21'45.9

2:30'25.4

 27.4
25
D. Jr. Dominguez
Spain R. Penate 		27 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2  

+22'13.6

2:30'53.1

 27.7
26
M. Ángel García
P. Hernán Vargas
43 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 '10

+25'09.4

2:33'48.9

 2'55.8
27
B. Zapag
E. Fratta
48 Volkswagen Polo GTI R5  

+25'19.4

2:33'58.9

 10.0
28
A. Galanti
M. Toyotoshi
30 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2  

+28'02.0

2:36'41.5

 2'42.6
29
M. Jorge Martínez
J. Aros
45 Hyundai i20 N Rally2 1'00

+28'35.6

2:37'15.1

 33.6
30
S. Ruiz
M. Ruiz
57 Peugeot 208 Rally4  

+30'33.4

2:39'12.9

 1'57.8
31
G. Vassilakis
A. Harryman
54 Ford Fiesta Rally3  

+33'18.7

2:41'58.2

 2'45.3
32 Poland K. Kajetanowicz Poland M. Szczepaniak 24 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2  

+35'57.0

2:44'36.5

 2'38.3
33
J. Masi
M. Ramos
37 Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo  

+39'43.5

2:48'23.0

 3'46.5
34 United Kingdom G. Greensmith Sweden J. Andersson 22 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+46'07.8

2:54'47.3

 6'24.3
35
D. Dominguez S
Argentina F. Mussano 		35 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2  

+46'35.3

2:55'14.8

 27.5
36
D. Arias
H. Nunes
41 Volkswagen Polo GTI R5  

+1:09'14.3

3:17'53.8

 22'39.0
37
M. Irala
J. Manuel Cabrera
59 Peugeot 208 Rally4 1'20

+1:09'28.3

3:18'07.8

 14.0
38
M. Andre Martinez
M. Aranguren
53 Ford Fiesta Rally3  

+1:10'45.6

3:19'25.1

 1'17.3
39 Luxembourg G. Munster Belgium L. Louka M-Sport 13 Ford Puma Rally1 '40

+1:16'03.2

3:24'42.7

 5'17.6
40
N. Bruun
P. Olmos
52 Ford Fiesta Rally3  

+1:17'19.9

3:25'59.4

 1'16.7
41
C. Pedotti
N. Elizaur
49 Volkswagen Polo GTI R5  

+1:18'04.1

3:26'43.6

 44.2
42
M. María García
J. Jose Bilbao
42 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+1:18'59.3

3:27'38.8

 55.2
43
A. Alonso
E. Galindo
31 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2  

+1:26'08.1

3:34'47.6

 7'08.8
44
H. Finke
M. Espindola
58 Peugeot 208 Rally4  

+1:29'11.2

3:37'50.7

 3'03.1
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