Evans holds third place at chaotic Rally Paraguay
The opening day of Rally Paraguay saw significant mechanical failures and retirements, leaving Elfyn Evans in third place. Sami Pajari currently leads the race after a chaotic series of stages on rugged terrain.
Why it matters
The high rate of attrition in this race highlights the extreme technical challenges faced by teams in the World Rally Championship.
World Rally Championship leader Elfyn Evans sits in third place after a dramatic opening day of Rally Paraguay.
The chaotic opening eight stages brought three retirements as all but one of the 10 Rally1 drivers had some form of issue on the rugged gravel roads.
Toyota's Sami Pajari, Evans' closest challenger in the standings, was the sole driver to escape any drama and he is first by 11.9 seconds ahead of New Zealand's Hayden Paddon, who is driving a part-time season for Hyundai.
Paddon was leading his first WRC event since 2018 but a puncture handed Evans the lead on stage six, but the Wales driver had a delamination of a Hankook tyre on the following run to promote Pajari into the lead.
"The tyre situation is somehow not a surprise," Evans said.
"We are in for a tough day tomorrow, a different set of challenges."
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