Elfyn Evans expects challenge to keep lead at WRC Rally Paraguay
27th August 2025Toyota’s Elfyn Evans will open the road on Friday at the World Rally Championship’s inaugural Rally del Paraguay, and he expects to face a challenge with the new event.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
The WRC will head into Paraguay for the first time this weekend as the sport prepares for a brand new gravel rally, as the sport completes its South American leg with Paraguay and Chile two weeks later.
Following Rally Finland, Evans regained the championship lead from Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, compounding a dismal weekend for the South Korean manufacturer. As such, the Welshman will be set to open the road on the opening day.
The event will be an unknown to the teams and drivers, having never competed here before, and Evans expects there will be a difficult challenge to defend his championship lead.
With no chance to test before the event, they will have to wait until the recce to see what challenges they will face in Paraguay, with stages expected to be fast with technical sections.
“We’re heading into another gravel rally in Paraguay, so it might not be easy to defend that lead when we need to open the road, but like usual we’ll be trying our best to get a good result,” Evans said
“It’s always a big challenge to prepare for a new rally, and especially when it’s outside of Europe and we’re not able to test there beforehand. We’ll need to wait for the recce to really see what the stages and the conditions are like, and try to adapt the car to suit that as best as we can.”
Evans will need a good result from the weekend following his return to the top of the championship, after Rally Finland, as the Welshman is only three points ahead of teammate – and two-time world champion – Kalle Rovanpera, who will follow him out on Friday.
However, the Finnish world champion is not his only concern as the top four positions in the drivers’ championship are all separated by only 13 points, consisting of Evans, Rovanpera, Sebastien Ogier (Toyota) and Tanak, from first to fourth, respectively.
While Toyota will be hopeful of a Finland repeat, scoring a 1-2-3-4-5 finish, Toyota’s Deputy Team Principal, Juha Kankkunen, believes the team should be prepared for ‘some surprises’ that come with competing at a new rally. He said:
“Paraguay will be something new for everyone, and nobody really knows what to expect there. What we do know whenever we go to South America is the passion that there is for rallying there – this is something I always remember from competing myself in Argentina.
“Like Argentina, it seems like the stages could be quite fast, but on a new rally we always need to be prepared for some surprises.”
Read more WRC here:
- FIA confirm tender process for new WRC rights holder
- WRC Rally Chile Bio Bio: Entry list revealed
- WRC Rally del Paraguay: the entry list
- Iconic 2004 WRC car up for auction in Silverstone
- 3 Winners and Losers of WRC Rally Finland
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
