Pajari extends Paraguay lead as Fourmaux turns up the pressure
Here is the thing about rallying around Encarnación: even when the predicted heavy rain refuses to fall, the roads still find a way to bite. Sami Pajari started the morning with a 11.9sec advantage and steadily pulled away across the opening three stages. But this crazy rally demands respect, and the Finn learned that the hard way on Hohenau. A wide moment sent him into a ditch, tearing the entire upper plane right off the rear wing of his GR Yaris Rally1.
He managed to escape without giving up massive amounts of time, but the missing aero made the fast stretches of the following Trinidad test an entirely different kind of beast. “On the high-speed it’s a massive difference,” Pajari admitted at midday service after also clipping a small tree along the way. “On one stage we lose the wing, and one stage we even hit some small tree on the way, so it’s a crazy rally. Even if the condition isn’t so bad, it’s really demanding.” His buffer had stretched as high as 26.0sec before settling back slightly, keeping him ahead of a subdued Paddon.
The New Zealander running in second simply could not find the sweet rhythm that put him into the lead on Friday. “I’m just struggling for rhythm at the moment,” Paddon conceded after Hohenau. “It is not gelling like yesterday. There is still a long way to go, so I just need to reset.” Behind them, Adrien Fourmaux put on a stunning charge to hunt down third-placed Elfyn Evans. Evans started the day with 55.0sec in hand, but Fourmaux chipped away relentlessly. He missed out on the Bella Vista stage win by a mere 0.4sec, went fastest on both Bella Vista Sur and Hohenau, and then finished just 0.3sec behind Sébastien Ogier on Trinidad. By the time they reached service, that gap was slashed down to 31.8sec.
“I cannot play with the weather,” Fourmaux noted as the skies failed to deliver the expected deluge. “I just drive with the conditions we have got.” Evans, sitting as the championship leader, opted to stay away from unnecessary heroics on roads still covered in loose stones from Friday’s puncture madness. “Adrien’s going hard obviously,” Evans said after Trinidad. “We’re not trying hard enough.”