[2026 WRC Round 11] Hyundai Survives Rally Paraguay Chaos to Score a Double Podium
- Hyundai Motorsport Team
- 2026.09.07
- 분량19min
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Hyundai Motorsport claimed a double podium at the 2026 WRC Rally Paraguay, with Hayden Paddon finishing second and Adrien Fourmaux third despite widespread tire failures that eliminated or delayed multiple championship contenders. Toyota's Sami Pajari won his third consecutive rally, tightening the title fight to just 20 points behind leader Elfyn Evans. Paddon delivered a composed performance in his first gravel rally since returning to Rally1 competition, whilst Fourmaux mounted a remarkable Sunday charge to overtake Evans by just 5.1 seconds after losing nearly two minutes to tire trouble on Friday.
Rally Paraguay turned into a survival test almost from the start. Thierry Neuville was effectively out of the fight early Friday, while Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Sébastien Ogier, along with M-Sport’s Jon Armstrong, all ran into tire or suspension trouble. Through all of it, Sami Pajari kept his head down and won for the third straight round, throwing another twist into the championship fight. Hayden Paddon finished second, while Adrien Fourmaux held off Elfyn Evans for third to give Hyundai two cars on the podium.
After roughly three weeks off for summer break, the WRC crossed the globe for the start of its South American swing in Paraguay. Round 11 is the newest event on the calendar. First held in 2024 as part of the CODASUR* Rally Championship, it joined the WRC last year, making Paraguay the 38th country to host a World Rally Championship round.
*CODASUR: Confederación Deportiva Automovilística Sudamericana, the South American motorsport federation.
Centered around Encarnación, near the Argentine border, Rally Paraguay runs over fast, flowing red-dirt roads cut through dense forest. At first glance, the surface can look almost friendly. It is smooth, grip comes quickly, and the cars can carry serious speed. Then the road starts to fall apart. As more cars come through, ruts deepen, the surface gets ripped open, and buried rocks start appearing. A stage that feels fast and clean on the first pass can become something completely different the second time through. The grip level can also change abruptly from one section to the next, which means drivers have to keep recalibrating on the fly. Miss a braking point or put a wheel slightly off line, and the penalty can be immediate.
Visibility adds another layer. The fine clay surface throws up huge dust clouds in dry conditions, sometimes cutting sightlines to almost nothing. Add rain, and those same roads can turn into slick mud. Rally Paraguay does not just reward speed. It rewards crews that can adapt before the conditions turn against them.
This year, there was even more of it. The route grew to 22 stages, including five new tests, while total competitive distance increased by roughly 30 km to 358.88 km, the longest rally of the season. Many of the returning stages were revised, too. And just like last year, rain was in the forecast. In other words, nobody was expecting an easy weekend.
Hyundai arrived with Thierry Neuville, Adrien Fourmaux, and Hayden Paddon. Neuville had delivered the team’s only win of the season in Portugal and finished second in Greece, but narrowly missed the podium in both Estonia and Finland.
Fourmaux arrived as Hyundai’s highest-ranked driver after finishing second in Kenya and third in Greece, despite still searching for his first victory of the season. Last year in Paraguay, he was running second overall on Sunday morning before a sudden downpour knocked him off the podium.
“The stages are quite unique, with the grip changing a lot and some very fast sections, so you need to have confidence in the car and be able to adapt quickly. We learned a lot there last year, and after our recent performances on fast gravel I’m looking forward to going back. The target is clear: we want to fight at the front again and this time make sure we come away with the result.”
For Hayden Paddon, Paraguay was his fourth WRC start of the season—and the first time he would get this car on gravel. His earlier outings in Monte Carlo, Croatia, and Japan had all come on asphalt. That made this one different. Gravel has long been one of Paddon’s strengths, and he was clearly ready to lean into it.
“I’m very excited to finally be on gravel with the car, and to be doing it in South America makes it even more special. It feels like a full-circle moment. Our mileage on gravel is limited to just two short tests, but from the very first kilometre I felt at home in the car and on the surface. I know the car reasonably well now from our tarmac events, and gravel is my comfort zone, so it’s a matter of combining the two and getting up to speed as quickly as possible. We’ve spent a lot of time studying videos and data to prepare, and the fact that 40% of the route is new this year helps us a little. The target is different to our tarmac events – this time we want to drive flat out, give it everything we have and deliver the strongest result possible for the team.”
Hyundai Motorsport WRC Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley had a simple message before the start: do not overdrive the rally.
“Since Paraguay last year, a huge amount of work has been done to understand the Evo chassis and to make the crews as confident as possible. However, a mix of changeable weather conditions on high-speed roads, with some big compressions that contribute to a high puncture risk, means that the Paraguay setup will always be about trying to find the best compromise….This is not an event where the stage wins are measured in tenths of a second, so there is some opportunity for the crews to establish a good rhythm without pushing at 100% from SS1. Keeping clean, driving to the conditions and managing the challenges will be key to bringing home a good result.”
Toyota brought a stacked five-car lineup of Elfyn Evans, Oliver Solberg, Takamoto Katsuta, Sébastien Ogier, and Sami Pajari. Evans came into Paraguay still leading the championship after finishing third in Finland, with a 29-point advantage over Pajari. He had also finished second in the inaugural WRC Rally Paraguay last year. But Pajari was suddenly right in the middle of the title fight. Back-to-back wins in Estonia and Finland had carried him past Katsuta into second in the standings and put real pressure on Evans. Two straight victories had already changed the championship picture. A third would change it again
M-Sport Ford entered just two cars, for Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong. For Armstrong, Paraguay marked his first-ever rally in South America.
DAY 1 – Tire Trouble Turns Rally Paraguay Into Chaos
Friday, August 28, kept most of the action near the Paraná River, which also marks part of Paraguay’s border with Argentina. The day opened with Cambyreta, followed by Nueva Alborada and Yerbateras, the rally’s longest stage at more than 34 km. The loop then wrapped with the 2.5-km Autódromo Super Special Stage at the Capitán Miranda circuit before the crews repeated the route in the afternoon. Eight stages added up to 153.78 km. Most crews went with six soft tires, but Hyundai split its strategy. Neuville and Paddon started with four softs and two hards, while Fourmaux carried five softs and one hard.
The opening Cambyreta stage was all about speed and sightlines. Running through open farmland, it was roughly 6 km longer than last year. The layout looked straightforward at first, but the second half strung together a series of flowing corners that put a premium on precise pace notes.
Oliver Solberg set the first fastest time of the rally, with Fourmaux right behind and Paddon only narrowly back in third. But the chaos started immediately. Takamoto Katsuta rolled out of the rally just 2 km into the opening stage. Sébastien Ogier lost roughly 25 seconds to a puncture, while Thierry Neuville ran wide after a jump and damaged the suspension, dropping about 2 minutes 46 seconds. With the car in no condition to continue, Neuville abandoned the rest of Friday.
Fourmaux was barely able to squeeze past Ogier, whose damaged suspension had slowed him dramatically. Video: WRC (http://www.wrc.com)
SS2 Nueva Alborada was a very different test: narrow, technical, and buried in dense forest. The tree cover made it difficult to read the road surface clearly, and Solberg took full advantage, setting his second straight stage win. Ogier’s problems got worse. After the puncture in the opener, he clipped a bank and damaged the left-front tire. He changed the tire, but the hit had also affected the suspension, and his pace dropped noticeably. That created an unusual moment for Fourmaux, who caught the slow-moving Ogier and lost some time getting past.
“It is not every day you overtake a nine time world champion in the stage. We were doing the press to pass but I don't think Seb received it. I need to stay calm in the dust as some places I couldn't see. I think it will be. stage win.”
Meanwhile, Paddon was the quickest Hyundai driver and moved ahead of Fourmaux into second overall.
“It doesn't feel a great run. There su some road sweeping so we have a small advantage. It is really difficult conditions. When you start to push you are in the ditches. Very difficult to find the right balance.”
With Toyota struggling, Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon moved into the overall lead. Video: WRC (http://www.wrc.com)
SS3 Yerbateras was the day’s monster stage, running through mate plantations and demanding both tire management and full concentration from the drivers. The stage was about 4 km longer than last year and mixed broad, fast roads with frequent junctions. A series of big jumps also appeared in the middle section. The character changed sharply between 18.7 km and 22.7 km, where the road narrowed and the corners became more technical.
Then the tires started deciding the rally. Leader Solberg suffered a puncture and then ran into a restart problem, allowing Paddon to move into the overall lead—his first time at the top of a WRC rally since 2018. Elfyn Evans and Sami Pajari both made it to the finish with tread peeling away from their tires, while Fourmaux stopped at the 20.4-km mark to change one and lost about 1 minute 28 seconds. Ogier, still dealing with the damage from SS2, finally called it and retired.
On the short SS4, Fourmaux was fastest. By the end of Friday morning, Paddon led overall, with Josh McErlean second and Evans and Pajari close behind. After seeing how hard the morning had been on tires, most crews switched to six hards for the afternoon loop. The M-Sport Ford pair went the other way, gambling on a split of three softs and three hards.
Fourmaux kept the momentum going in SS5 Cambyreta, setting another fastest time and making it two stage wins in a row. Evans moved past McErlean into second overall. Fourmaux was clearly happy with the pace afterward, though a hit to the engine underbody protection left him thinking carefully about how hard to push from there. As it turned out, there was still speed in the car.
Fourmaux went fastest again in SS6, while Paddon ran into trouble with a damaged right-front wheel. The issue slowed him enough for Evans to catch and pass him in the overall standings, dropping Paddon to second. Pajari, meanwhile, moved past McErlean into third overall. Paddon was hardly alone. Tire trouble was spreading through the front of the field.
“Nothing. Obviously it is puncture but no idea where from. There is obviously a lot of rocks but I didn't touch anything. I tried to manage it for the last part of the stage. It was probably our turn.”
The tire problems kept coming in SS7. This time, overall leader Evans was the one to get hit. His right-rear tire failed, costing him about 20 seconds. Fourmaux lost both rear tires and gave away roughly 50 seconds. Pajari took the stage win and moved into the overall lead, while Paddon climbed back into second. Paddon also had a tire issue late in the stage, but fortunately the time loss was limited.
“It is tough,” Paddon said. “It delaminated with about 15km to go. We managed it the best we could. No fault for anyone it is demanding for the tyres. Our job as rally drivers is to drive around situations.”
Fourmaux hit back again on SS8 Autódromo, setting the fastest time, with Paddon second to give Hyundai a one-two on the stage. By the end of Friday, Pajari remained in the overall lead, with Paddon second and Evans third. Fourmaux had climbed back to fifth overall, ahead of McErlean, and was once again chasing down Evans.
DAY 2 - Fourmaux Charges, Pajari and Paddon Fight for the Lead
Saturday started with a warning shot from the weather. Thunder and lightning rolled in from around 5 a.m., and heavy rain hammered the service park, putting everyone on edge. The day opened with the 21.15-km Bella Vista stage, followed by Bella Vista Sur, Hohenau, and Trinidad. The four-stage loop was repeated in the afternoon before the crews wrapped up the day with a Super Special Stage in downtown Encarnación. From SS9 through SS17, Saturday packed in nine stages and 135.74 km of competition.
SS9 Bella Vista is classic Paraguay: long straights, sweeping high-speed corners, and a layout unchanged from last year. The opening kilometers run at medium speed before the road turns more technical at the 4.3-km mark. A water crossing appears at 6.4 km, the pace picks back up after 10 km, and from 16 km onward the road narrows and starts climbing through a more undulating section.
There was standing water in places, but the skies around the stage had already cleared. Toyota fitted snorkels to its cars just in case the rain returned, while every Rally1 crew carried six soft tires in preparation for wet conditions.
Elfyn Evans was quickest on Saturday’s opening stage, with Adrien Fourmaux right behind. Hayden Paddon finished fifth. Neuville, back in the rally after retiring Friday, was taking a more measured approach.
“Obviously driving without any objectives today, other than trying to get through and maybe work with the car a bit in tricky conditions. Surprisingly dry, but let's see what the day brings. I'm sure it'll be an adventure today.”
Just down the road from the SS9 finish, SS10 Bella Vista Sur got underway. At 10.95 km, it was relatively short, but the road was narrower, more technical, and offered almost no room for mistakes. The rain was still holding off, and this time Fourmaux went fastest.
Fourmaux made it two straight stage wins and put himself firmly back in the hunt. Video: WRC (http://www.wrc.com)
Having taken a big chunk out of the gap to third-place Evans, Fourmaux was happy to make it through cleanly.
“It was a brand new stage and quite nice to drive, enjoyed a lot. A lot of loose rocks in the beginning and easy to have a puncture. Short, but intense.”
Meanwhile, Neuville began suffering pain as the neck injury he had picked up in Finland flared up again.
SS11 Hohenau brought one of Rally Paraguay’s signature features: a sequence of three jumps in a row. The cars have to absorb a hard landing and immediately set up for the next corner, making commitment every bit as important as precision. Fourmaux was fastest again, giving him two consecutive stage wins and cutting the gap to Evans to 40.2 seconds. Pajari still led overall, with Paddon 26.0 seconds behind. But Paddon had been 10.2 seconds slower than Fourmaux on the stage and was not happy with the rhythm.
“I'm just struggling for rhythm at the moment. It is not gelling like yesterday. There is still a long way to go so I just need to reset,” Paddon said.
Pajari, meanwhile, had damaged his rear wing, though it did little to hurt his position.
SS12 Trinidad ran near the Jesuit ruins designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The surface was heavily undulating, grip changed constantly, and keeping the car settled was already difficult before rain began falling on parts of the stage and turning the road muddy. Ogier set the fastest time, with Fourmaux just 0.3 second behind. Paddon was quicker than Pajari and trimmed the gap to the lead to 22.8 seconds.
“The grip's changing quite a lot and I think the road's changing a lot as well,” Paddon said. “I think it's getting drier in some places, but it's getting more chewed up in other places. Tricky stage, but all good. I think this loop has been a lot less complicated than what we were all expecting. So let's see what this afternoon brings.”
The heavy rain everyone had expected never really showed up in the afternoon. Instead, the heat became the bigger problem. Drivers had to manage the physical strain inside the cars, while the soft tires were also taking a beating. On SS13 Bella Vista, the afternoon repeat of the morning opener, Fourmaux went fastest yet again. Evans was second, with Ogier third. Then Fourmaux did it again on SS14 Bella Vista Sur, continuing to reel Evans in.
By SS15 Hohenau, Fourmaux had banked his fifth stage win of the day, and the gap to Evans was down to just 16 seconds. Ogier was quickest on SS16, followed by Solberg and Neuville. Fourmaux lost some time after running slightly off the road. Paddon finished 4.4 seconds behind Ogier but kept the gap to rally leader Pajari at 23.2 seconds.
Saturday ended with SS17 Encarnación Costanera, a 3.1-km Super Special Stage laid out along the city’s riverfront. This time, Takamoto Katsuta was fastest, with Neuville second. When the dust settled on Saturday, Pajari still led the rally. Paddon sat 24.1 seconds back in second, Evans held third, and Fourmaux had closed to within just 3.3 seconds of the championship leader. Fourmaux had spent all day hunting Evans down. Now he was right on his bumper.
DAY 3 – Paddon and Fourmaux Put Two Hyundais on the Podium
Sunday was packed with short, punchy stages, leaving plenty of room for the order to change right to the finish. The 10.21-km Encarnación stage opened the day and would return later as the rally-ending Power Stage. In between came the 19.63-km Artigas, the shorter 6.67-km Artigas Oeste, another run through Artigas, and then the final blast through Encarnación. Five stages, 66.35 km, and one last chance to settle the rally.
<Paddon kept it tidy and composed as he closed in on a podium finish. Video: WRC (http://www.wrc.com)
Neuville also looked steady through Sunday after returning to the rally on Saturday. Video: WRC (http://www.wrc.com)
The opening SS18 Encarnación started fast before the character changed at an intersection 1.8 km in. The closing section featured a series of artificial hairpins laid out along the Río Quiteria riverfront. Most crews went with six soft tires in case the rain returned. Neuville was the exception, dropping one spare to save weight.
Ogier won the Sunday opener, with Neuville second. More importantly for Hyundai, Fourmaux finally got past Evans and moved into third overall, opening a 1.6-second advantage. “We cannot make a lot of time gain at the beginning and the last part is slippery,” Fourmaux said. “I had a clean stage to be fair.”
Pajari finished SS18 14.1 seconds slower than Ogier, but he still had a comfortable 21.5-second lead over Paddon.
SS19 Artigas had been shortened from last year after both the start and finish locations were changed. The stage opened through forest, spilled into open fields around the 5-km mark, and then really started to fly from 7 km onward. Solberg went fastest, while the front-running order stayed mostly intact. Fourmaux did manage to stretch his advantage over Evans, growing the margin from 1.6 to 3.1 seconds.
On the short, 6.6km-long SS20 Artigas Oeste, Solberg went fastest again. That moved him ahead of Neuville into second in the Super Sunday classification, which scores crews based only on Sunday’s stage times. Elsewhere, Jon Armstrong retired after breaking the left-side suspension on his car.
Then SS21 never really happened. The stage was red-flagged after Katsuta crashed and his car came to rest blocking the road. Officials ultimately canceled the stage while the accident scene was cleared. Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston were taken to a nearby hospital for medical checks. Toyota deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen later said they are both OK, but Katsuta and Johnston elected to retire as a precaution against any delayed effects from the crash.
Paddon and Fourmaux went flat-out on the Power Stage with Hyundai’s double podium on the line. Video: WRC (http://www.wrc.com)
Then came SS22, the Power Stage, and the final run of Rally Paraguay. Pajari brought it home without drama. The win made it three straight victories, following Estonia and Finland, and gave Pajari an unusual piece of WRC history: he became the first driver to score the first three wins of his WRC career consecutively. More importantly, the championship fight tightened again. Pajari left Paraguay just 20 points behind Evans in the drivers’ standings, turning the second half of the season into a much more serious title fight.
Hyundai had plenty to celebrate, too. Paddon finished second and Fourmaux third, putting two Hyundais on the podium. For Paddon, the result carried extra weight. This was his first gravel rally since returning to Rally1 competition, yet he looked composed throughout the weekend and brought the car home in second. For him, the result felt almost as good as a win.
“This one feels like a proper podium,” Paddon said. “I think a lot of people had written us off, a lot of people probably thought we were a bit of a joke of a to sign this year, but a lot of people believed in me, and we believed in ourselves. So this goes to show you never ever give up. Dream, dare to believe in your dream, and I can't believe we're back here in this full cycle. And even good for myself just to know that we can still be competitive, knowing there's a lot more as well as we learn the car.
“But massive thanks to Hyundai. With this opportunity this year, we've just absolutely loved it. For our Kiwi supporters, our own PRG team back at home for allowing me to still do this. And of course John, 22 years. We don't know what's next, but this has been one hell of a journey. He's an absolute legend. We've gone around in full circles I don't know how many times, but yeah, this's a pretty special one.”
Fourmaux had to work much harder for his third-place finish, fighting championship leader Evans nearly to the final kilometer. The final gap between them was just 5.1 seconds. With his third-place finish plus additional Power Stage points, Fourmaux also moved ahead of Ogier into fifth in the drivers’ championship.
“It's been an incredible weekend,” Fourmaux said. “I think we deserved to win, but to be 1 minute 50 out of the lead on Friday night and going back to less than 50 seconds, something, it's just unbelievable. What a weekend. Very shame for the tyres, but at the same time it was a very, very good fight for us to come back and really push Mike to the last bit. Thanks to the team, we had a very fantastic car this weekend.”
With Paraguay in the books, Hyundai now heads west for Round 12 in Chile, running September 10–13. Rally Chile brings another very different gravel challenge: fast, narrow stages threading through dense forests and over rugged hills. The speeds are high, the roads are tight, and the surface can change constantly underneath the car. That means there is little room for hesitation. To be fast in Chile, drivers will need total concentration, absolute commitment, and a rhythm they can hold from the first corner to the last.
Written by: Soo-jin Lee
In 1991, Lee’s passion for cars led him to enthusiastically write letters to the newly launched Korean car magazine Car Vision. This unexpected connection led him to start his career as an automotive journalist. He has served as editor and editorial board member for Car Vision and Car Life, and now works as an automotive critic. While eagerly covering the latest trends like electric vehicles, connected cars, and autonomous driving technology, he is also a car enthusiast who secretly hopes that the smell of gasoline engines will never disappear.
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