Review: Round 11 - Rally del Paraguay

Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team is celebrating a fantastic double podium finish at Rally del Paraguay, the 11th round of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season, where Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have finished second, while Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria completed the top three.

Paddon and Kennard impressed in their first gravel event in a Rally1 car, quickly establishing themselves in the provisional podium places on Friday and leading the rally for three stages. The Kiwis remained firmly established in second place for the remainder of the event, expertly managing the challenges of Saturday and Sunday to preserve their hard-earned position. The result marks the crew's second podium of the season after third place at Croatia Rally, and Paddon's tenth in WRC competition.

Meanwhile, Fourmaux and Coria had an incredible recovery drive from a puncture on Friday. The Frenchmen scored nine stage wins – more than any other crew - as they sought to claw back positions from seventh place. By the end of Friday, they had climbed back to fourth overall and continued their charge on Saturday. Having started the day 55 seconds behind Elfyn Evans, a series of stage wins reduced the deficit to just three tantalising seconds heading into the final day. They wasted no time, claiming third on the first stage of Sunday morning, before spending the remainder of the day consolidating their advantage. They scored three additional points with the third fastest time in the Power Stage, and two points in the Super Sunday classification.
 
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe spent Sunday battling fellow Friday retiree Sébastien Ogier for bonus points; they were running in second in the standings after the first stage on Sunday, but dropped to third behind Oliver Solberg on SS20. The cancellation of SS21 due to an accident for Takamoto Katsuta meant that the Power Stage marked the final showdown, but the tricky conditions hampered their run and they had to settle for third in Super Sunday.

Crew Notes: Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (#20 Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 

• Second podium finish of the season for New Zealand crew
• Led the event for three stages on Friday and scored stage win on SS3

Paddon said:

This feels like a win after the journey we have been on. While circumstances may have helped us achieve a podium in Croatia, it feels like we can really celebrate this one. People had problems this weekend, but we also had issues, and since day one we’ve been managing the gap. There is certainly more speed in there, but we had a job to do this weekend, and we’ve done it. I knew it would be tough, and I surprised myself with how we adjusted to it. We knew this was an important rally for the team, which is why we did so much preparation to make the best of this opportunity.

Crew Notes: Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (#16 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)  

• French crew scored nine stage wins, the most of any crew in Paraguay
• Third podium of the season following second in Kenya and third in Estonia

Fourmaux said:

I’m very proud of what we have achieved this weekend. In particular, seeing that Elfyn was 55 seconds ahead and saying, ‘I’m going to catch him’, I think shows a strong mentality, and it paid off. I think we deserved more than the podium this weekend. In terms of performance, I think we deserved the win, but fundamentally we got a puncture and Sami didn’t. That’s rallying, and ultimately I am very pleased. We worked a lot on the car, and this has been a big step forward in the setup of the car, and it seems to be working well. It’s very encouraging for these final events.
 
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 

• Belgians forced to retire on Friday with suspension damage from a puncture on SS1
• Secured three points from Super Sunday and one from Power Stage

Neuville said:

I’m obviously very disappointed with how this rally started for us. Things just aren’t going our way at the moment, and we need to cope with that, but we continued fighting and never gave up. We progressively built speed on Saturday to enable us to be fast today; we had good pace, but just not enough to secure more bonus points from the weekend. The main thing is we have brought the car home, and it’s ready for Chile. We learned a lot driving with a softer car, which could help us with the remaining events this season.
 

Hyundai Motorsport WRC Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley said:

This has been a very strong weekend for the team, and the fact we can be slightly disappointed with second and third place demonstrates just how much progress has been made. It was an incredibly demanding rally, with plenty of action across the field, but we were competitive on every stage and achieved 100% reliability throughout the event. Hayden and John delivered a fairytale result, securing a second podium from four starts this season, while Adrien and Alex showed tremendous commitment and speed across all three days to recover from seventh place and finish on the podium. Thierry and Martijn also played a crucial role, continuing to support the team after the disappointment of Friday and helping us make another step forward in our understanding of the car. Above all, this result belongs to every member of Hyundai Motorsport, who worked in exceptionally difficult conditions and delivered three reliable cars throughout the rally. To finish the event with three fast cars and without any technical issues is testament to the hard work and commitment that has gone into this programme over recent months, and it gives us confidence heading to Chile in two weeks’ time.
 

Next rally 

• The FIA WRC continues its South American adventure with Rally Chile, set to take place September 10-13
• Hyundai Motorsport will field Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe, Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria and Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1.