WRC expects increased Rally1 field for inaugural Rally Paraguay

Paraguay’s inclusion on the 2025 World Rally Championship calendar is likely to bolster the Rally1 field following an explosion in local interest in the category.

The WRC will head to the South American nation for the first-time next year as part of multi-year agreement announced last month.

Paraguay is set to complete the championship’s long-held ambition to host two rounds in the region, with Chile set maintain its place on the schedule.

A burgeoning local rally scene that has helped produce established WRC2 and Junior WRC drivers Fabrizio Zaldivar and Diego Dominguez has played a role in triggering a desire for Paraguay to host a round of the WRC.

Since the announcement the WRC has received plenty of enquiries for Rally1 drives from local competitors which has the left the championship organisers confident the top class will see at least three extra top-flight entries at the event next year.

Interest in Rally1 cars in South America was evident last year when Alberto Hellar rented a M-Sport Ford Puma to contest his home round in Chile.

“I’ve had interest from five different competitors in Paraguay who want to get hold of a Rally1 car,” WRC event director Simon Larkin told Motorsport.com.

“This is a big step and whether we can find out from the existing teams to run that many extra cars, I don’t know, but I guarantee you we’ll have probably three extra Rally1 cars for Paraguay, and I think we’ll have maybe one or two who will do both South American events.

“This is not a one off. We’re going there [to Paraguay] for a minimum of three years. I think we can grow something really special there.

“We’ve been working with Paraguay president Santiago Pena and met with him a few times and he’s been personally driving this project.

“It’s a country that has a huge amount of passion for rallying. It is their motorsport. We were there at the start of the Transchaco Rally, and I think there’s 31 or 32 R5 cars or Rally2 cars in Paraguay. It’s bigger than the fleet that’s in Argentina and bigger than the fleet that’s in Chile combined.”

As previously reported, the WRC is expected to reveal its full 14-round calendar later this month with rounds in Paraguay and Chile set to run within a three-week window to ease logistics on the teams.