In an exclusive interview with DirtFish, president Santiago Peña shares his vision for Rally del Paraguay
Photography by M-Sport, Toyota & Škoda
Words by Luke Barry & David Evans
The president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, wants his nation’s World Rally Championship event to emulate the success of Rally Finland.
Paraguay made its WRC debut last weekend, and despite initial concerns that the stages would be too fast at rally speeds, the rally was widely praised across the service park for its quality of organization and passionate fans.
Peña has had an active involvement in his country’s world championship rally, even attending Rally Finland last month before being present on all three legs of Rally del Paraguay and taking a ride with eventual winner Sébastien Ogier on the shakedown stage.
In an exclusive interview with DirtFish, the Paraguayan president shared his ambitions for Rally del Paraguay’s future and explained why he saw Finland as a good benchmark for the event to match.
“Of course, Finland has a very long tradition,” Peña told DirtFish. “They have been hosting the WRC for over 50 years, and they have an excellent tradition with drivers.
“I found a lot of similarities between Finland and Paraguay [as] they have this very strong agricultural base; 30% of their economy is forestry. Paraguay is expanding on forestry, and it’s amazing. I had a chance to visit the farm of Tommi Mäkinen, and he has cars and he has trucks, and this is very similar to what you have here in Paraguay.
“Paraguay is a food basket, we are a very large producer of food. So it’s very easy for you to go in the countryside and find tractors everywhere. And those who run a tractor will fix a motor and at the same time they would like to also have a race car.
“So I think that what took 75 years for Finland to be at the top of all the events, world events, I think that Paraguay can also be in the same group of countries that are performing very, very high in organizing this event.
“Again, I think we have the right scenography. The country is just beautiful. We have the right attitude. The Paraguayan fans are people who are very committed with safety, which is a very important issue over the last three days, and prior to that, we have insisted so many times that security is a priority, that the success of the stage in Paraguay will be that no track is suspended because of some concern on security.
“So absolutely I have no doubt that this will be a very high reference for countries in Latin America and other parts of the world too.”
Can Paraguay become the biggest WRC rally in South American - even the world? That's the aim
Another of Peña’s targets is to boost local participation in motorsport by having the world’s superstars visit Paraguay every year.
Peña said: “It’s ultra important. I think that one of the main reasons why we decided to push so hard on this because we are seeing a younger generation that is defying all the odds. It’s not common. You see where kids like Fau [Zaldivar] and Diego [Domínguez] has come up, or Joshua [Dürksen], a racer in F2 who is very close to getting to Formula 1. And they come from a very small kart track with not much infrastructure.
“So bringing all the good drivers and the top drivers here to compete with them in Paraguay is an extra incentive for them to continue to pursue. And again, for others who are also thinking that maybe they should try also in the future.
“I have to acknowledge that organizing this event has nothing to do with the amount of money that we put and everything to do with the commitment and the hours that we put,” the president added.
One of the president's targets is too boost opportunities for national drivers, like Fau Zaldivar
“It has nothing to do with the resources. It has to do with understanding what this will do to the grassroots for young drivers who are going to be seeing these idols that they used to watch only on TV and now they are able to see them here in their own country. And of course, what it’s also doing for national drivers.
“Fau Zaldivar, what it’s doing to Diego, someone who’s driving all over the world and now has a chance to drive at home, and both of them are driving also with their fathers. Their fathers are also driving [this weekend]. So this is going to be an experience that is very hard to quantify in terms of money, but I have no doubt that we are aiming to follow in the footsteps of what Finland has done.
“I have no doubt that Paraguay will become a permanent state in the WRC. We are working to do that. And of course, we have to also acknowledge that with more events, this will increase the participation of local drivers.”
The full interview with president Santiago Peña is available to watch now on YouTube, where he explains his targets for next year, his own sporting past and the wider impact the WRC will have on Paraguay.
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Rally del Paraguay, Rally del Paraguay 2025, Santiago Pena, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date September 3, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/09/8QjoHqRw-WRC_PAR_25_G_MUNSTER_911-780x520.jpg September 3, 2025
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