Kalle Rovanpera loses WRC Rally Paraguay lead after puncture
30th August 2025Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera has lost the lead of Rally del Paraguay thanks to a puncture on the penultimate stage of the day, handing the lead to teammate Sebastien Ogier.
Feature image credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing
Rovanpera has led for the majority of the rally, starting from the very first stage of the event, only losing it for four stages on Friday to Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux before regaining it on stage seven.
However, it looks like he might have lost it for good, as he opted not to change the puncture that he picked up on stage 14: Artigas 2. As such, the Finnish driver lost a staggering two minutes and 38 seconds.
As such, Ogier has now taken the rally lead ahead of Fourmaux and Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans, in Hyundai and Toyota. The eight-time world champion leads with 9.2 seconds in hand over the second-placed Hyundai.
Speaking at the end of the stage, Rovanpera said:
“No idea, puncture from somewhere. Obviously we should have changed the tyre, Jonne [Halttunen, co-driver] was saying we should go to the end, I didn’t know how long to the end, so clearly a wrong decision this time.”
As a result of Rovanpera’s decision not to change the puncture, it now drops the two-time world champion down to sixth in the standings, two minutes and 23.6 seconds off the lead, and one minute and 41 seconds off fifth-placed Neuville.
When the Finnish driver finished the stage, he had lost so much time that the WRC2 contender Yohan Rossel had caught up to the back of the WRC title contender.
However, Rovanpera was not the only one to have a puncture that cost him the lead as WRC2 rally leader, Nikolay Gryazin, also suffered a puncture, and Robert Virves has now inherited the rally lead.
Read more WRC here:
- Kalle Rovanpera leads WRC Rally Paraguay after demanding opening day
- Takamoto Katsuta crashes on penultimate stage of Rally Paraguay
- Rally del Paraguay: the schedule and times
- Elfyn Evans expects challenge to keep lead at WRC Rally Paraguay
- Rally Paraguay: Weather Forecast and Updates
- FIA confirm tender process for new WRC rights holder
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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.
