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Takamoto Katsuta set the fastest time in the Rally Paraguay shakedown today, clocking a time more than a second quicker than anyone else in the Encarnación-based event.
The Toyota driver was the only one to dip below the three-minute mark, completing the 5.6-kilometer stage 1.6 seconds ahead of Hyundai's Hayden Paddon, who posted the second-fastest time.
It remains to be seen how indicative this pace will be for the rally itself. After a long Friday, rain is forecast for Saturday and Sunday, which could make the clay-covered roads on the stages extremely treacherous.
Katsuta had an unfortunate outing in last year's inaugural World Rally Championship (WRC) round in Paraguay, suffering a puncture on the very first stage and later crashing out. He arrives in South America third in the standings, having been overtaken by his teammate and winner in Estonia and Finland, Sami Pajari.
"This week won't be about speed, but rather survival," Katsuta warned, referencing the weather forecast.
For Paddon, the event marks his first appearance in a top-tier car on gravel since Rally Australia in 2018.
"I'm definitely much more confident on gravel, where the car is much more unstable," the New Zealander said. "But it's not easy to just jump into one of these cars without much testing and try to keep up the pace. We'll do the best we can."
To the tenth of a second, Paddon's time matched that of his Hyundai teammates, Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux. Neuville needed a third run to match the pace of the other i20 N Rally1 cars, which set their best times on their second attempts.
"This is just the beginning of a very challenging rally," Neuville smiled. "We all know that last year it was a great race with many twists and turns, and the weather forecast doesn't promise anything better this year, so it will be exciting.""
Championship leader Elfyn Evans was fifth on the stage, 0.1 seconds slower than the Hyundai trio, having completed only two runs.
He was 0.6 seconds ahead of Jon Armstrong. His M-Sport teammate, Josh McErlean, was next, 0.8 seconds further back, after pushing the limits of the stage on his first pass.
"I had a few hairy moments," McErlean admitted. "I'm just trying to find the grip. It's completely different from anything else we do in WRC.""
The third Toyota driver, Oliver Solberg, matched McErlean's best time. Solberg was 0.2 seconds faster than his teammate Sami Pajari, who arrives in South America in high spirits after winning the previous two rounds in Europe.
"This is quite a different rally compared to the previous ones, but of course, the result was really great and gave me extra confidence," Pajari said.
Sébastien Ogier, last year's winner of the event, rounded out the Rally1 class cars. Ogier was almost 2 seconds slower than Pajari but completed only one run.
Among the Rally2 class drivers, Romet Jürgenson was fastest, 0.2 seconds ahead of Alejandro Cajón. WRC2 leader Robert Virves was 11th but completed only one run compared to most of his rivals' two.
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