The WRC drivers deliver their verdict after seeing the Rally del Paraguay stages for real
Photography by DirtFish & M-Sport
Words by Luke Barry, Colin Clark & David Evans
With reconnaissance completed for the inaugural Rally del Paraguay in the World Rally Championship, the drivers have delivered their verdict on the stages.
Paraguay is just the fourth South American country to host a round of the WRC (after Argentina, Brazil and Chile) but offers something different to all three – in fact, to anything the WRC has seen altogether.
Ott Tänak told DirtFish: “Clearly it’s very unique, once again. There are a lot of straights but still the places where you can make the time difference are quite tricky.”
These are four questions that arose, and the drivers answered, after recce.
This wasn’t a question we were asking ahead of the event – particularly not after Fabrizio Zaldivar’s guide to the event on Club DirtFish – but one the world champion raised to us.
Like everybody, Thierry Neuville didn’t know what to expect of Paraguay before arriving, but having seen the stages he fears they’re too simple if the rain doesn’t appear.
Recce in Paraguay was one of the most important of the season given everything was new
He told DirtFish: “It’s a good mix of fast, bumpy, smooth, abrasive, slippery, dusty in some places. Some sections are quite easy, some others are a bit more technical. It will all depend about the grip, I guess.
“If the grip is quite consistent, it will be way too easy. If it’s changing a lot, in some of the stages I expect to have more grip changes, it will be quite a tricky one.”
Sébastien Ogier revealed a similar fear to Neuville, admitting the stages looked “a bit boring” on the videos because there are “a lot of straights and junctions”.
“Still, some sections are a bit like this,” Ogier explained, “but actually there’s still a lot of difficulties and I think more in the vertical this time just to estimate all of these bumps, how can we take them with speed and which approach?
“So it’s like always; there is no easy rally and, yeah at least I like to go through a new challenge.”
The kickers in the road could well be one of the key factors this week, as also noted by M-Sport’s Josh McErlean.
“It’s going to be a proper rally,” McErlean told DirtFish. “There are so many different types of roads and I think the hardest thing to predict is these kicks and these jumps because you’re hitting them at high speed and you don’t know how the car will actually react.
“The elevation changes on Friday is the biggest thing.”
Naturally, that will lead to a lot of pacenote evolution from the first to the second pass.
“Yeah, I think you’re obviously going to change a lot from first pass to second pass,” McErlean confirmed.
“I think we have to expect that, but… I don’t know. [We’ll] see how the first one is and take it from there.”
Elfyn Evans fans, listen in. Dust shouldn’t be an issue in Paraguay due to the nature of the road’s surface, which also should mean the cleaning effect is less severe than on other gravel events.
But Evans fears the rate at which the roads are drying could work against him still.
The Toyota driver told DirtFish: “It looked a bit like that [it wouldn’t be too punishing], but I think it’s just drying so quickly,
Will being the first Rally1 car along help or hinder Elfyn Evans?
“There’s definitely sections that are looking fine, but like you see here now, when you get sections like this, then it’s, you know, the same old story. But let’s see.”
Evans is however relishing the challenge of a new event.
“Yes, it’s good to do,” he added. “Obviously, it’s the same for everyone. A lot to get right on the recce.”
Fast stages would suggest an all-out push is required, but nadgery sections and tricky terrain need the exact opposite.
From a driving, but perhaps more importantly a setup perspective, Rally del Paraguay is going to be difficult to get right.
Adrien Fourmaux arrived in the country on Saturday and went to the WRC2 pre-event test on Monday to glean some intel.
Approaching these stages correctly - both in terms of driving and setup - is a challenge
He told DirtFish: “It’s always interesting to see also the Rally2 cars going and seeing the setup, the tire wear, the road developing after the passes, so it was interesting.
“What we can learn is when it’s wet, it’s really slippery, so it’s nearly like no grip, like ice. But then when it’s dry, the grip is quite good. So actually, I could see that you need a really soft car when it’s wet.
“But then as soon as you dry up, then you need a much stiffer car. But also, you still need protection. So it’s a compromise. For sure, it seems to be a challenging rally. But as always, every WRC event, I would say, it’s new. So it’s interesting.
“Some places it’s a bit like Kenya style, where you need to slow down for the compression, the crest etc or you can easily make a mistake. You lose control of the car in the air, especially. So it’s, in some places, a bit more technical. It’s a mix.”
All of these unknowns are a nightmare for drivers, but a treat for all of us.
“It’s quite different than what we are used to,” concluded Grégoire Munster. “So [it’s] interesting.”
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Rally del Paraguay, Rally del Paraguay 2025, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date August 27, 2025 DirtFish
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