Rally del Paraguay 2026: Pajari's Hat-Trick & Katsuta's Big Crash
Sami Pajari won Rally del Paraguay on Sunday, and in doing so became the first driver in World Rally Championship history to win his first three events in a row.
It capped a weekend that had already delivered the roughest Friday the series has seen in years, a red flag brought on by a frightening second crash for Takamoto Katsuta, and a home win for Paraguay that had the whole country talking.
This week's episode of The Motorsport Files goes through all of it. Drew is joined by Chris to break down a rally that turned into a war of attrition almost from the moment the flag dropped, and to work out what it means for the title fight with three rounds left on the calendar.
How Rally del Paraguay 2026 Unfolded
The rally ran from 27 to 30 August across twenty two stages and 358.88 kilometres around Encarnación, and everyone arrived expecting the weather to be the story. It never really was. The rain that was forecast for Saturday and Sunday stayed largely in the service park, and instead it was Friday, supposedly the calm day, that turned into the most chaotic day of WRC action either host could remember.
Katsuta was the first to find trouble, rolling his Toyota just a few hundred metres into the opening stage. He survived it with the car battered but driveable, and the general read afterwards was that it looked more like pressure than a lack of pace, an innocuous placement error rather than anything reckless. It would not be his only visit to the scenery that weekend.
The bigger story of the day turned out to be tyres. Hankook copped heavy criticism from several drivers, Sebastien Ogier among the most vocal, as the hard, rocky Paraguayan surface chewed through sidewalls all afternoon. Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville both had pointed words of their own, and the sheer number of delaminations and straight punctures became the defining image of the day. Jon Armstrong's Friday summed it up best. After a puncture he kept pushing rather than stopping to change the wheel, and by the time he finally pulled over the tyre had worn clean through to the rim, then through the brake caliper and disc behind it. A few stages later Elfyn Evans found himself in an almost identical situation with seventeen kilometres still to run on a delaminating tyre, and somehow nursed the car home without it ever fully letting go.
The Crash That Stopped the Rally
The most serious moment of the weekend came on Sunday's penultimate test, Artigas 2, when Katsuta rolled for a second time. The stage was immediately red flagged and cancelled outright, with Thierry Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe among the first on the scene to stop and help. Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston were taken to hospital by helicopter as a precaution and were given the all clear a short time later. Katsuta was honest about the cause afterwards, describing it as his own mistake after losing the rear of the car and catching a bank that lifted it onto two wheels before it went over.
Sami Pajari's Piece of History in Paraguay
Two rallies ago Pajari was a reliable points scorer rather than a title threat. Estonia changed that, Finland confirmed it, and Paraguay made it official. He and co-driver Marko Salminen beat Hayden Paddon and John Kennard by 25.8 seconds to become the first crew in WRC history to win their first three events back to back, and Pajari was quick to credit the car rather than his own pace for it, pointing out that his Toyota was the only one in the top group that avoided a tyre failure all weekend. The win cuts his gap to championship leader Elfyn Evans down to 20 points with three rounds left, having trailed by 30 coming into the weekend.
Rally del Paraguay 2026 Final Classification
Pos | Driver / Co-driver | Team | Time / Gap |
1 | Sami Pajari / Marko Salminen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 3:13:28.5 |
2 | Hayden Paddon / John Kennard | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +25.8s |
3 | Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +40.0s |
4 | Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +45.1s |
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 Jr. / 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 | Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 | +10:36.9 |
Jon Armstrong and Thierry Neuville were both among those who failed to make the finish inside the top ten after Friday and Sunday's incidents respectively, while Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston did not finish following their Sunday crash.
Paddon's second place was arguably the story of the weekend behind Pajari himself. Having been thrown into a Rally1 car at Monte Carlo with barely any notice, he brought the Hyundai home safely all weekend and briefly led the rally before a puncture cost him the chance to fight for the win. Fourmaux was the fastest driver on the road across Saturday and Sunday and took nine stage wins, and by his own admission felt he deserved more than third given the pace he showed, but a puncture of his own on Friday put paid to that.
How the WRC Championship Standings Look After Round 11
Evans held onto the championship lead despite a fourth place finish, but the gap has shrunk fast. With Pajari now firmly in the mix and three rounds still to run, this is no longer a formality.
Pos | Driver | Points |
1 | Elfyn Evans | 216 |
2 | Sami Pajari | 196 |
3 | Oliver Solberg | 175 |
4 | Takamoto Katsuta | 160 |
5 | Adrien Fourmaux | 149 |
6 | Sebastien Ogier | 148 |
7 | Thierry Neuville | 129 |
8 | Hayden Paddon | 38 |
9 | Josh McErlean | 29 |
10 | Esapekka Lappi | 25 |
Toyota's manufacturer lead remains close to unassailable, with the factory squad and its second entry combined putting real daylight between themselves and Hyundai.
Pos | Team | Points |
1 | Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team | 554 |
2 | Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team | 381 |
3 | Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2 | 210 |
4 | M-Sport Ford World Rally Team | 138 |
The Rest of the Weekend
WRC2 had its own version of Friday's carnage. Alejandro Cachón crashed out early after catching a rear wheel on a bank, and Robert Virves, unbeaten in the class all season, was another to retire from stage one after clipping a bank of his own. He came back out to finish the rest of the rally unclassified and still managed nine stage wins across Saturday and Sunday, a reminder of just how big his advantage in the class has been.
With Virves out of the points, the class win went to a home crew for the second year running. Diego Domínguez Jr. and Rogelio Peñate led WRC2 from the first stage and were never seriously troubled, finishing seventh overall and giving Paraguay a result the whole country had been hoping for, having received a personal message of support from President Santiago Peña before the rally even started. Gus Greensmith backed up a difficult season with a second place finish, and Alejandro Galanti made it two Paraguayan crews on the WRC2 podium in third. Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin, both expected to be closer to the front, had largely forgettable weekends, while Estonian teenager Romet Jürgenson continued his steep learning year for M-Sport.
In WRC3, Bolivian driver Nataniel Bruun delivered a maiden win in some style, leading from the first stage and eventually crossing the line more than fifteen minutes clear of the field. It was a result that fit the wider theme of the weekend perfectly, another reminder of how much genuine talent and passion for the sport exists across South America, something Drew and Chris spend a good chunk of the episode talking about.
Beyond the results, we cover plenty that will not show up on any timing sheet. There is a longer conversation about Sebastien Ogier's mood all weekend, including a public apology he issued after comments made in a private conversation with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and President Peña found their way into the open, and what his tetchiness might say about his plans beyond this season.
Oliver Solberg's rally was compromised early by a failed starter motor that needed a spectator push start, yet he still finished fifth and took the Power Stage, and Drew and Chris rate his composure all year as some of the most underrated driving in the field. There is also a look at Toyota's crowded driver situation heading into 2027, with Kalle Rovanperä's potential return and Ott Tänak's testing mileage both up for discussion, and news that Teemu Suninen's regular co-driver Yanni Hussi has been snapped up by Jasper Vaja, a strong hint that Suninen's WRC2 campaign for this year may already be over while he focuses on wrapping up the ERC title.
The pair also spend time on M-Sport's wider situation, with Josh McErlean matching his best ever WRC result in sixth and continuing to look like the most improved driver of the year, while team-mate Jon Armstrong's tough weekend is put down to rookie growing pains rather than any lack of raw speed. Neuville's rally never recovered from an early puncture and suspension failure that eventually left him as the lowest finishing Rally1 car of the weekend, extending what has become a miserable run of luck for the Belgian.
Sami and Marko's achievement is one that will take some beating. Becoming the first crew to win their first three WRC events in a row is the kind of record that tends to stand for a long time, and with Evans now looking over his shoulder rather than cruising to the title, the final three rounds of the season suddenly look a great deal more interesting. Round twelve takes the championship to Chile from 10 to 13 September, and on this form nobody would bet against Pajari going there and taking a fourth.
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Next month we've got Tom Cave, Matt and Bex joining the show to talk about what is and isn't working in British rallying at the moment, so keep an eye out for that one too.
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