Pajari makes history as he cuts Evans' WRC lead
· Yahoo Sports
Toyota's Sami Pajari made history at Rally Paraguay as he won his third World Rally Championship round in a row to cut Elfyn Evans' lead at the top of the standings.
After his victories in Estonia and his home event in Finland, Pajari is the first driver in WRC history to win his first three rallies back-to-back.
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Wales' Evans and co-driver Scott Martin finished in fourth place but his margin at the top to his Toyota team-mate is now down to 20 points with three rallies remaining.
Hyundai duo Hayden Paddon and Adrien Fourmax were second and third, while Evans, Oliver Solberg and Josh McErlean rounded out the top six.
"It feels really good. We're trying to do our best in the championship and it's not going too bad as well," Pajari, 24, said after his win.
"Anything is possible but we just need to keep pushing."
Pajari cut Evans' lead at the top by a third as his stunning run of form continued, and he will look to build on that at the next event in Chile from 10-13 September.
Evans had rallied to the podium places after he dropped down the order with a tyre delamination on the opening day of the rally on Friday, but the 37-year-old lost third place by the hard-charging Fourmaux on Sunday morning.
While Pajari won the rally, Evans did pick up three bonus points through the Power Stage and Super Sunday classification.
When asked about the points, a disheartened Evans said it was "not enough, unfortunately".
"The weekend started well, but we didn't settle into a better rhythm after that. I'm not really happy," he said.
Makeshift repairs for McErlean
Josh McErlean and co-driver Eoin Treacy repaired a broken gear stick on his Ford with a spanner [Getty Images]It was another strong rally for M-Sport Ford driver McErlean, who has had a strong run of form after a difficult start to his sophomore WRC season.
He ran as high as second on Friday before a puncture damaged his podium chances on Friday, and he had to do a makeshift repair on a broken gear stick with a spanner on Sunday to complete the rally.
"Friday was really strong. We dropped a bit on Saturday, but today was a battle to survive," McErlean, 26, said at the end of the rally after he equalled his career-best tally of sixth.
"Thanks to the team. It's a busy period being away from home for three weeks. Let's keep the fight on."
But there was more disappointment for his Motorsport Ireland team-mate Jon Armstrong, who ripped the rear off his Ford Puma Rally1 when he clipped a bank and was forced to retire from seventh place with three stages left of the rally.
Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne had battled their way back into the points after they were one of a number of drivers to have tyre issues on the opening day of the rally on Friday.
Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston had their second crash of the weekend on Sunday's penultimate stage when they rolled their Toyota at high speed.
The stage was stopped and both Katusta and Johnston were confirmed to be okay but were taken to hospital as a precaution.
Standings
Rally Paraguay
1. Sami Pajari FIN/Marko Salminen FIN (Toyota) 3:13:28.5
2. Hayden Paddon NZ/John Kennard NZ (Hyundai) +25.8 seconds
3. Adrien Fourmaux FRA/Alex Coria FRA (Hyundi) +40.0
4. Elfyn Evans GB/Scott Martin GB (Toyota) +45.1
5. Oliver Solberg SWE/Elliott Edmundson GB (Toyota) +2:57.0
6. Josh McErlean IRL/Eoin Treacy IRL (M-Sport Ford) +4:19.0
35. Sebastien Ogier FRA/Vincent Landris FRA (Toyota) 1:03:41.6
38. Thierry Neuville BEL/Martijn Wydaeghe BEL (Hyundai) +1:11.49.6
DNF. Takamoto Katsuta JAP/Aaron Johnston IRL (Toyota)
DNF. Jon Armstrong IRL/Shane Byrne IRL (M-Sport Ford)
WRC drivers' championship (after round 11/14)
1. Elfyn Evans 216 points
2. Sami Pajari 196
3. Oliver Solberg 175
4. Takamoto Katsuta 160
5. Adrien Fourmaux 149
6. Sebastien Ogier 148
7. Thierry Neuville 129
8. Hayden Paddon 38
9. Josh McErlean 29