Sebastien Ogier quick out of the blocks as Rally Paraguay shakedown reveals surprise

Paraguay makes its debut on the World Rally Championship calendar this weekend. The WRC stars got their first real taste of Paraguayan gravel roads on Thursday morning local time, when the shakedown stage got underway.

Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier, Kalle Rovanperä and Sami Pajari locked out the top three on the first runs. Veteran Ogier edged Rovanperä by 0.5 seconds, while Pajari was just a tenth of a second behind his Finnish team-mate.

At the same time, the top-class drivers discovered that Paraguay presents a completely new kind of challenge – something that came as a surprise to many.

“We can feel already here in the shakedown that it won’t be an easy weekend. The grip is changing a lot. It’s not easy to read and it’s happening at high speed,” explained Ogier, who is chasing his ninth world title.

Pajari, like all the other drivers, was fully in agreement with Ogier.

“We had some feeling after the recce, but for me it’s now completely changed after the first round of the shakedown. The feeling was not so good, but if we are third fastest, I think the situation is the same for everybody,” Pajari said, referring to the changes in grip.

Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville filled positions four to six on the opening run. The margins were tiny, with the top six separated by just 1.3 seconds.

“Now from the shakedown I can say it looks much more tricky than we anticipated. The grip changes are massive,” Tänak added, echoing the now-familiar mantra.

The Rally Paraguay shakedown stage is still ongoing. The rally itself begins in earnest on Friday, with eight special stages scheduled.

Rally Paraguay shakedown, results from the first runs: