The historic first Paraguayan WRC round ended with a Toyota one-two, as Sébastien Ogier claimed victory ahead of team-mate Elfyn Evans.
The rally delivered drama right to the finish. On the final Power Stage, Ogier and Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux had to face heavy rain. Ogier fortunately had a solid lead and was able to secure the win. Fourmaux, however, dropped from second place to outside the podium. In the end, the Frenchman was classified as a retirement when Hyundai chose to withdraw him before the finish for tactical reasons.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak and Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä both suffered punctures. Tänak finished fourth, while Rovanperä ended up fifth.
RallyJournal.com journalists Toni Heinonen, Aki Hietavala and Ville Hirvonen give school-style grades to each of the top-class drivers, with 10 the best mark and 4 the lowest.
Toni Heinonen
Sébastien Ogier 9½ (Position: 1)
This Frenchman really is a phenomenon! His fourth victory of the season, and while his performance this time wasn’t completely dominant, the wily old fox still deserves praise. The rain that hit on the final stage cost him valuable points, but on the other hand, at least Ogier won’t have to do the road-sweeping in Chile. And just think about the Toyota “part-timer’s” record this year: four wins, two second places and one third from seven rallies. Is this the champion of the season?
Elfyn Evans 8 (Position: 2)
A steady but unspectacular performance – but that too can bring results if you avoid punctures and other issues. The Welshman never really found top gear at any point. Still, he collected good points and even extended his lead at the top of the championship table slightly. That, of course, also means the “joys” of sweeping the road in the next rally.
Thierry Neuville 8 (Position: 3)
Neuville only launched a proper attack on Sunday – and it paid off: full points from the Super Sunday format, a climb to third on the final stage and ultimately the second-highest points haul of the weekend – just one fewer than Ogier. But in terms of the title fight, Neuville’s situation remains at the very least precarious, if not already hopeless.
Ott Tänak 9- (Position: 4)
Tänak quite literally fell victim to the Hankooks. A couple of punctures at crucial moments and suddenly his position dropped outside the leading fight. In terms of pace, Tänak clearly belonged in the sharp end of the battle – but this time it just didn’t work out.
Kalle Rovanperä 9 (Position: 5.)
Same story as Tänak: just that bit more bad luck than his rivals, with the tyre going where others’ didn’t. Without that, he would have been right in the thick of the victory fight. Important points slipped away, but Rovanperä did a brilliant job making up for it on Super Sunday, despite being unwell. That deserves huge credit.
Sami Pajari 7 (Position: 6.)
Opened the rally promisingly, but then came the puncture. From there, Pajari’s fight was over – the task was simply to bring the car home. The pace afterwards wasn’t anything spectacular, but he had no threats from behind, nor any realistic chance of fighting forward.
Takamoto Katsuta 4½ (Position: 16.)
Once again, Katsuta couldn’t string together two strong performances in a row. After a superb result in Finland, he hit the ditch in Paraguay. This time, there’s no pat on the back for the Japanese driver.
Josh McErlean 4+ (Position: 29.)
Still lacking experience, and it shows mercilessly in his pace. On top of that, the Irishman’s rally ended on Saturday when the car took heavy damage in a compression, losing its oil. No higher grade can be justified this time.
Gregoire Munster 4 (Position: 39.)
Munster’s rally went wrong straight away when he broke the steering arm. Fixing it cost a long time, but he got going again. On Saturday he ran into fresh problems in the same compression as his team-mate and retired. He did manage to reach the finish on Sunday, but overall this was yet another big failure.
Adrien Fourmaux 8½ (Retirement)
You can only feel sympathy for the Frenchman. It looked set to be a completely clean weekend and the best result of his career. And indeed, his rally was clean, but on the final stage the conditions changed so dramatically in his case that second place turned into fourth. Even so, Fourmaux gave a strong demonstration that he has firmly earned his place among the sport’s elite. Hyundai then chose to retire Fourmaux at the finish for tactical reasons, but that had no impact on his rating.
Aki Hietavala
Sebastien Ogier 9½
I myself slightly doubted the wisdom of Ogier’s project to fight for a ninth title. Ogier proved that it is by no means a pipe dream. Must feel nice to still wipe the floor with the youngsters as a veteran. However, his win was dampened by a rain shower that hit Ogier on the Power Stage, leaving him with only a single point on Sunday. That was just bad luck, though.
Elfyn Evans 9
You have to give him an excellent. After a stunning start to the season, Evans has seemingly regressed in terms of pace – or has he? Perhaps the Welshman simply knows how to play the game in the smartest way, avoiding unnecessary retirements and punctures. Still very much in the title fight. After last-minute twists in Paraguay, he took second place and also collected a solid batch of points on Sunday.
Thierry Neuville 8½
Once again, the Belgian failed to have a trouble-free weekend, yet he still climbed onto the podium after all the twists and turns. Plenty of small issues cropped up this time as well. Still, a good placing and full points on Sunday. Of course, the championship train has already left, but it is always nice to pester the others still fighting for the crown.
Ott Tänak 7½
The speed was there, the luck was not. Tänak is really being plagued now. Two punctures robbed him of the chance to fight for the win, and eventually, a Sunday puncture and damper problem on the Power Stage dropped him from the podium to fifth. An unacceptably high number of tyres failed in Paraguay. Hankook surely has something to think about. Tänak’s gap to the championship lead now stands at 18 points. Without the punctures, it would be at least half that.
Kalle Rovanperä 7½
Up until Saturday evening things looked good. The win was on a plate, but Hankooks struck back this time with a puncture. A rotten ending to an otherwise strong rally. On Sunday he did what he could and collected the second-highest points haul of the day. Still very much in the title fight.
Sami Pajari 6
Like Rovanperä, he fell victim to a puncture, though on Friday. Still, the first half of Pajari’s South American trip was bland and flavourless. Hopefully things will click in Chile.
Takamoto Katsuta 4
Retired after going off. These simply cannot keep happening. He apologised to his team – and rightly so.
Josh McErlean 4
Zero points again. A retirement and some cruising. Not a big deal when you get to push a Rally1 car regardless, but this lad is still in the wrong league for now.
Gregoire Munster 4
The same words as for his team-mate McErlean, but money talks. Munster, however, has been training for quite a while already without taking any major steps forward.
Adrien Fourmaux 8+
Fourmaux has talent. That has been seen earlier this year, but now the package held together almost until the end. A little technical issue appeared when crossing a puddle on Sunday, which added pressure. A rain shower on the Power Stage ruined his chance and left the podium only 1.3 seconds away, while his career-best result and second place slipped by a narrow 2.3-second margin.
Ville Hirvonen
Sebastien Ogier 8
A good and solid performance once again. Rain caught him by surprise at the end, but nobody can control the weather. Without it, he could have secured a really strong position in the title fight, but he is still only nine points off the lead. The Frenchman cannot be counted out of the championship battle.
Elfyn Evans 8
Not dazzling in terms of pure speed, but once again kept his cool and delivered consistent work. This was rewarded with an excellent result and a fine haul of points, largely thanks to the problems of others. The Welshman continues to lead the championship.
Thierry Neuville 7
For once, luck was on the Belgian’s side, and he managed to climb onto the podium. Defending the world title will not happen this year, but in the end, the result in Paraguay was still quite decent for Neuville. In terms of speed, he did not particularly impress, and the weekend was difficult. His podium place came purely thanks to good fortune.
Ott Tänak 7
A weekend marked by punctures and other problems. In the end, he gained a bigger points haul from Adrien Fourmaux’s retirement than his own performance perhaps warranted. The Estonian’s pace was at times decent, but that old trademark Tänak speed has only really appeared twice this season – in Estonia and Greece. Tänak’s season has not been good, which makes it somewhat surprising that he is still, to some extent, in the title fight.
Kalle Rovanperä 8
A fine performance from the Finn until Saturday evening. The puncture that followed was hardly avoidable. Sometimes you can dodge the rocks on the road, and sometimes you simply cannot. He deserves praise for his Sunday effort: driving while unwell, he still collected valuable points. Purely on speed, he would have deserved more. Kalle remains strongly in the championship fight, only seven points off the lead.
Sami Pajari 7
On Friday, he was fighting for a podium place. Then came a puncture, and the chances were gone. Once again, he found himself in that all-too-familiar situation: just gathering experience. The puncture was not his fault, and to make matters worse, he was left in an ungrateful position after Josh McErlean dropped out ahead of him. After that, the Finn had nothing left to fight for – and no reason to start taking risks. Very difficult to assess, but let’s give him a solid seven for a reasonable effort.
Takamoto Katsuta 5
How many times have we seen this? A fine performance followed by a poor rally. He was superbly second in Finland, but now everything went wrong. Mistakes, and also misfortune.
Josh McErlean 5+
Hard to give a good mark. He was forced to retire on Saturday after damaging his car. Before that, however, he had managed to be the fastest Ford driver. He shows flashes of pace more often than his team-mate – perhaps that is worth a small plus.
Gregoire Munster 4
He broke his car on the rally’s first stage, ruining his event immediately. After that, he was only taking part. And it is a little embarrassing that he keeps losing to his team-mate.
Adrien Fourmaux 7
Also very hard to assess. For the first time in a long while, he delivered a really strong rally, but then everything collapsed on the final stage. He dropped from second to fourth, and in the end Hyundai decided on retirement about two hours after the podium ceremony. So a seven for the Frenchman as well: in the end, the weekend was a huge disappointment, but his pace was strong for most of the rally.
