Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen made FIA World Rally Championship history on Sunday by winning ueno Rally del Paraguay and becoming the first crew whose first three WRC wins have come consecutively.
The Finnish pair added Paraguay to their breakthrough success in Estonia and home triumph in Finland, completing an extraordinary hat-trick with a 25.8sec victory over Hayden Paddon and John Kennard.
Paddon’s second place completed a remarkable weekend on his first top-level WRC gravel start since 2018.
The New Zealander briefly led the rally on Friday and remained Pajari’s closest challenger thereafter, delivering another significant result in his return season with Hyundai.
“This one feels like a proper podium,” said Paddon. “A lot of people had written us off, but a lot of people believed in me and we believed in ourselves.
“This goes to show you never ever give up. Dream, dare to believe in your dream, and I can’t believe we’re back here in this full circle.
“For our Kiwi supporters, our own PRG team back at home for allowing me to still do this. And of course John, 22 years. We don’t know what’s next, but this has been one hell of a journey. He’s an absolute legend. We’ve gone around in full circles I don’t know how many times, but yeah, this’s a pretty special one.”
Pajari’s third straight win also tightened the drivers’ championship considerably. The 24-year-old now sits just 20 points behind leader Elfyn Evans with three rounds remaining, having trailed by 30 coming into Paraguay.
“Amazing,” Pajari said at the finish. “Big thanks to the team once again. It was not an easy rally, not easy for the drivers, but nevertheless not easy for the team.
“Building such a reliable car is the key for the success. It’s a really, really proud moment and I’m really, really happy.”
Pajari had taken control during a chaotic Friday when tyre problems and incidents reshuffled the order repeatedly. He entered Sunday with 24.1sec in hand over Paddon and, although his advantage briefly fell to 21.5sec on the opening Encarnación test, he refused to be drawn into unnecessary risks.
The Toyota driver responded by stretching the margin on the following two stages and arrived at the final Wolf Power Stage with victory firmly under control.
Behind the leading pair, Adrien Fourmaux completed one of the drives of the weekend to snatch third place from championship leader Evans.
Fourmaux had been 1min 51.3sec from the lead after Friday’s tyre troubles but launched a relentless recovery on Saturday, reducing a deficit of more than 55sec to Evans to just 3.3sec overnight.
The Frenchman moved ahead on Sunday’s opening stage and kept the pressure on to finish 5.1sec clear of the Welshman and 40.0sec behind Pajari.
Evans settled for fourth but retains the championship lead on 216 points, with Pajari now second on 196. Oliver Solberg is third on 175 after finishing fifth overall and winning the Wolf Power Stage.
Solberg’s rally had been compromised as early as Friday when his engine stopped under braking while he was leading, requiring spectators to push-start his GR Yaris Rally1 before a puncture compounded the time loss.
Josh McErlean brought his M-Sport Ford home sixth after an eventful final day during which a broken gear lever was ingeniously repaired using a 10mm spanner.
The penultimate Artigas stage was red-flagged and not restarted following an accident involving Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston. Both crew members were transported by helicopter to a local hospital for precautionary medical examinations.
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