Oliver Solberg goes into the final day of Rally Chile with a 19.1-second cushion at the head of a Toyota GAZOO Racing one-two-three. Saturday’s 139.2 competitive kilometres over abrasive gravel south of Concepción saw the Swede win both passes of the rally’s longest stage to almost double his overnight advantage. Elfyn Evans holds second, 1.3 seconds clear of a fast-starting Sébastien Ogier, with only 71.2 km left to run on Sunday.

Rally Chile’s longest day belonged to Oliver Solberg. The Toyota driver arrived at Saturday morning’s start with a 10.1-second lead over team-mate Elfyn Evans and finished the day with 19.1 seconds in hand, leaving Toyota GAZOO Racing World Rally Team filling the top three places with one day of the event remaining.

A long day on punishing gravel

Saturday served up 139.2 competitive kilometres (86.5 miles), split into two loops of three stages to the south of Concepción, across the Biobío River and within sight of the Pacific. The roads there are notably abrasive, and the regulations reflected it: crews were allowed to swap two used tyres for up to two fresh ones before the third test of each loop, María las Cruces, at 28.31 km (17.6 miles) the longest stage of the rally.

Solberg lost ground to Evans on the opening two stages of the morning, then took it all back by winning María las Cruces, arriving at midday service in Concepción with exactly the same margin he had started the day with. He repeated the trick on the second pass in the afternoon, and that second stage win was what stretched the gap to 19.1 seconds.

Evans holds off a charging Ogier

Championship leader Evans had a solid if not spectacular afternoon, going second fastest on the closing stage to keep Sébastien Ogier at bay by 1.3 seconds. Ogier was the morning’s pacesetter, winning the first two stages to move ahead of Adrien Fourmaux’s Hyundai for third, only for the Frenchman to reclaim the position on María las Cruces. Ogier repeated his one-two stage haul in the afternoon and a stronger run through the long stage finally opened a 10.7-second buffer over Fourmaux.

“It was very close between the top four guys for most of the day, but at the end we are in a stronger position than when we started this morning,” said deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen.

Sami Pajari holds fifth after what he described as a tricky day without the pace to close on the leading group. Takamoto Katsuta, restarting after his opening-day retirement, was regularly inside the top six on stage times despite the disadvantage of running first on the loose gravel.

Aftermath of Friday’s accident

Following their crash on Friday’s final stage, TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto was released from medical checks without injury. Co-driver Topi Luhtinen sustained two fractured vertebrae and a broken sternum and underwent surgery on Saturday, which the team says was successful.

What Sunday holds

The final leg covers 71.2 km (44.2 miles) in the same region, with two stages run twice. Carampangue is almost entirely new to the WRC, while the second pass of Biobío closes the rally as the Power Stage. There is no service between the loops, though a further tyre exchange is permitted — which, on roads this hard on rubber, could matter as much as outright pace.

Facts: Rally Chile, end of day two (Saturday)

  • 1. Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — 2h17m09.5s
  • 2. Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — +19.1s
  • 3. Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — +20.4s
  • 4. Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) — +31.1s
  • 5. Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — +1m15.5s
  • 6. Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) — +4m10.1s
  • 7. Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) — +5m18.2s
  • 8. Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) — +6m54.6s
  • 9. Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) — +7m52.6s
  • 10. Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) — +8m20.7s
  • 38. Takamoto Katsuta/James Fulton (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) — +1h01m40.8s

Results are as of 20:00 on Saturday. The rally concludes on Sunday with the Biobío Power Stage.

Source: newsroom.toyota.eu