Saturday was almost a formality for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, which took all the scratches in the special stages contested. Kalle Rovanperä took only the first passes of Carmen del Paraná and Cantera, leaving Sébastien Ogier with the rest, including the third and final pass at the Capitán Miranda Autodrome.
The Finn held a lead of around fourteen seconds over his teammate and record holder until, in the penultimate timed stage of the day, a puncture dropped him down to sixth place in the standings. For the final special stage, he simply had to drive without pressure and finish 2.4 seconds behind Rovanperä’s scratch time. Adrien Fourmaux is currently second in the competition, 10.3 seconds behind Ogier, while Elfyn Evans (Toyota) is the new third, 36.1 seconds behind the leader.
The Paraguayans in action:
Fabrizio Zaldívar is the highest-ranked Guaraní driver at the end of Saturday, with third place in the WRC2 Challenger and fifth place in the WRC2. Crews with Paraguayan drivers dominate the standings among the Rally2 cars, consolidating a top 10 in both support championships.
The other classes and support championships:
In the WRC2 & WRC2 Challenger, Estonian Robert Virves leads the way, in the WRC3, Italian Matteo Fontana remains in the lead, in the Masters Cup, Paraguayan Miguel Zaldívar Sr. is the leader, and in the RC4 class, without a support championship, Uruguayan Santiago Ruíz is in the lead at the end of Saturday.
