Paddon leads after dramatic Paraguay opening loop

What a wild, brutal morning of rallying. If you told anyone before the flag dropped that Hayden Paddon would reach Friday's midday service holding the overall lead on his first top-level WRC gravel start in eight years, you would have called them insane. Yet here we are. The New Zealander sits 23.9sec clear at the top of the standings, marking his first WRC rally lead since Rally de Portugal in 2018. It is a stunning turnaround in a machine that has bitten practically everyone else.

"I've probably learned in life you have to savour these moments a little bit as well," Paddon reflected. "It's pretty special to think after all this time to be in this position. A few circumstances have worked in our way, but it's pretty cool. Anyway, we have to reset and focus and try and do the same this afternoon."

Right out of the gate, Oliver Solberg was flying. The Toyota driver dominated the opening exchanges by winning Cambyreta by 3.1sec from Adrien Fourmaux and then doubling his advantage to 7.1sec on Nueva Alborada. Paddon sat second at that point, with Fourmaux third. But the rally had already begun taking a heavy toll on the field.

Takamoto Katsuta rolled his GR Yaris Rally1 barely two kilometres into the opening stage and retired on the spot. Thierry Neuville damaged the left-rear suspension of his Hyundai after going wide over a jump, reaching the finish of the stage after losing almost three minutes before going no further. Sébastien Ogier's morning unravelled just as quickly, as a rear-left puncture cost last year's Paraguay winner 24.4sec on SS1 before he struck a bank on Nueva Alborada and broke a suspension arm. Ogier made temporary repairs and attempted the following Yerbatera test, only to stop permanently when his makeshift fix failed.

Then came the 33.88km Yerbatera stage, which completely transformed the leaderboard. Solberg's engine stopped under braking 5.7km into the stage, leaving his Toyota stranded until spectators were able to push-start it. A slow rear-right puncture then forced him to stop again for a wheel change, surrendering almost four minutes.