Sami Pajari leads Hayden Paddon after punishing Paraguay Friday

Here is the thing about this sport: sometimes survival is the only victory that matters. Sami Pajari emerged from a brutal opening day in South America holding an 11.9sec advantage over Hayden Paddon, leading the field after a Friday where the top spot changed hands repeatedly and tyres disintegrated across the entry list.

The Finn, chasing a third consecutive FIA World Rally Championship victory following triumphs in Estonia and Finland, started the afternoon loop fourth overall and 33.2sec off the lead. But as rubber failed across almost every Rally1 contender, Pajari capitalized. By the end of eight stages, he headed Paddon with championship leader Elfyn Evans 56.3sec adrift in third, and Adrien Fourmaux completing the top four despite his own catalogue of trouble.

Paddon had been the unlikely midday leader after surviving the opening loop better than most, but his 23.9sec advantage began to shrink immediately after service. Fourmaux set the pace on the second pass of Cambyreta before doing so again on Nueva Alborada, where Paddon suffered a front-right delamination. That delay handed Evans the rally lead by the slender margin of 0.5sec. Then came the second run through the rally's longest test, the 33.88km Yerbatera, bringing another wave of chaos. Evans' right-rear tyre began delaminating and eventually disintegrated completely, forcing the Welshman to nurse his GR Yaris Rally1 to the finish on the rim. Pajari, meanwhile, completed the stage without drama and was fastest by 0.1sec from Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg. Paddon also reached the finish with a delaminated left-rear tyre, dropping 20.8sec to Pajari, but retained second.

"It was very clean for me," Pajari explained. "I think it is lottery if you take the puncture or not. I need to be happy with how we did. It is still early in this rally and a lot of things have happened already."

Pajari carried a 12.4sec advantage into the evening's short Autódromo Alfredo Scheid super special and surrendered only half a second there to close out Friday ahead. After overcoming a water leak and tyre delamination during the morning, simply reaching the overnight halt at the head of the field represented a considerable achievement.