WRC

Ueno Rally del Paraguay 2026 - Sami Pajari takes third consecutive victory

Sami Pajari (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1), a 24-year-old Finn, has taken his third consecutive victory in the FIA ​​World Rally Championship.

After victories in Estonia and Finland, Pajari lifted his third consecutive victory trophy in Paraguay, thus returning to the fight for the championship title. The Finn managed to maintain the lead on the final day of the competition and celebrate another victory with a lead of 25.8 seconds. With this triumph, the young Finn is back in the fight for the title.

Pajari is in second place in the championship, with 196 points on his account, which is exactly 20 points less than the number of points on his account of his teammate Elfyn Evans (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1). The Welshman had to settle for fourth place at the finish in Paraguay.

The Hyundai drivers, without much pressure, went full throttle and this time they won second and third place, which is an excellent result. Second place was taken by Hayden Paddon (Hyundai i20 N Rally1), who returned to the TOP category of rally sport, who finished the rally with a lead of 14.2 seconds ahead of his teammate, Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai i20 Rally1), who climbed to the lowest step of the podium.

After many problems on Friday, Oliver Solberg (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) can be satisfied with fifth place, who also won the Power Stage special, winning 5 points, and Josh McErlean (Ford Puma Rally1) reached sixth place. The fastest competitor on Sunday was Sebastien Ogier (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1), but due to problems on Friday and the restart, he finished the rally in 34th place, over an hour behind. Thiery Neuville (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) and Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) will also want to forget this rally as soon as possible. Katsuta crashed first on Friday, then made another mistake on Sunday and leaves Paraguay with zero points.

The victory in the WRC2 competition, in which Rally2-specification cars are allowed, was won by home competitor Diego Dominguez (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), who managed an excellent seventh place in the overall standings.

3. Ueno Rally del Paraguay 2026 - Objective:

1. Sami Pajari / Marko Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3:13:28.5

2. Hayden Paddon / John Kennard Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +25.8

3. Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +40.0

4. Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +45.1

5. Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:57.0

6. Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +4:19.0

7. Diego Domínguez / Rogelio Peñate Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +7:40.5

8. Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +8:03.2

9. Alejandro Galanti / Marcelo Toyotoshi Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +10:23.0

10. Taylor Gill / Daniel Brkic Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 +10:36.9

by: Autonews