Oliver Solberg heads a Toyota one-two after the opening day of Rally Chile, holding a 10.1-second advantage over championship leader Elfyn Evans. Overnight rain turned Friday’s narrow forest and farmland stages muddy, handing the front-running crews an unusually clean road. Sébastien Ogier and Sami Pajari recovered from a difficult morning to complete a Toyota top five, while Takamoto Katsuta lost the day after beaching his car on a bank.

The second South American round of the FIA World Rally Championship began in unexpected conditions. Thursday’s shakedown ran on dry, dusty gravel, but the forecast rain arrived overnight and left Friday’s three repeated stages — a mix of tight forest tracks and farmland roads — muddy and short on grip.

Rain reshuffled the road order advantage

That weather change removed the usual penalty for running first on the road, where the leading crew sweeps loose gravel aside for everyone behind. Championship leader Evans made the most of it alongside Solberg through the morning loop: the two took a stage win apiece and swapped the lead twice before Solberg ended the first half of the day 2.3 seconds clear.

As the roads dried in the afternoon and Evans began finding more loose gravel, the margin stretched. Solberg won the final stage of the day to finish Friday 10.1s ahead of his team-mate.

“It was very tricky and changing all the time, and we just tried to have a good flow and I think we did quite a good job. There was no point to take big risks and I was just trying to drive efficiently,” Solberg said.

Evans, who starts Saturday second on the road, described the position as workable rather than ideal. “We had drier conditions this afternoon; the grip was more consistent in a way and the feeling was OK, but we were maybe not quite as fast as we would have liked,” he said.

Ogier and Pajari fight back in the afternoon

Ogier and Pajari sat fifth and sixth after the morning, both struggling for balance and confidence on the slippery opening stages. Each took a stage win after service and climbed to fourth and fifth overall. Ogier is 1.7s behind third-placed Adrien Fourmaux of Hyundai, with Pajari a further 2s back — leaving four cars covered by a handful of seconds in the fight for the final podium place.

Katsuta’s day ended early. The Japanese driver ran wide in a muddy downhill corner on the slippery opening stage and stuck his GR Yaris on a bank. According to the team, the car is undamaged and he will restart on Saturday.

There was a more serious incident in WRC2, where TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto crashed on SS6 while running as high as sixth on his first Rally Chile start. He and co-driver Topi Luhtinen were taken to hospital for further medical checks.

Team view

“It has been a good start to the rally for us overall,” deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen said. “Oliver and Elfyn both drove very well in the slippery conditions this morning, and continued in that way this afternoon even as it was drying out a bit.”

Facts: Rally Chile after day one

  • 1. Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — 52m42.1s
  • 2. Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — +10.1s
  • 3. Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) — +18.0s
  • 4. Sébastien Ogier / Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — +19.7s
  • 5. Sami Pajari / Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — +21.7s
  • 6. Thierry Neuville / Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) — +27.4s
  • 7. Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) — +1m54.5s
  • 8. Jon Armstrong / Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) — +1m56.9s
  • 9. Esapekka Lappi / Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) — +2m06.0s
  • 10. Nikolay Gryazin / Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) — +3m08.7s

Standings as of 17:30 on Friday; Katsuta’s classification is to be confirmed.

What comes next

Saturday is the longest day of the event, with 139.2 km (86.5 miles) of competitive distance over two loops of three stages south of Concepción, across the Biobío River and overlooking the Pacific. The team notes these roads are typically wider and more abrasive than Friday’s, which shifts the emphasis towards tyre management and strategy for the crews running at the front.

Source: newsroom.toyota.eu