Oliver Solberg continues to lead Rally Chile in what is now a TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team one-two-three with one day remaining.
Saturday was the longest day of the rally, featuring 139.2 competitive kilometres across two loops of three familiar stages to the south of Concepción across the Biobío River and overlooking the Pacific Ocean. These roads are known for being more abrasive and punishing for tyres, and teams were allowed to provide crews with up to two additional tyres in exchange for two used ones before the third stage of each loop – María las Cruces – the longest of the rally at 28.31 km.
Solberg started the day with a lead of 10.1s over team-mate Elfyn Evans, and although he saw his advantage reduced in the first two stages, a stage win in María las Cruces meant the gap upon returning to mid-day service in Concepción was exactly what it had been at the beginning of the morning.
By the time Solberg repeated the feat by winning the second pass of María las Cruces at the end of the day, he had almost doubled his lead to 19.1s.
Championship leader Evans still had a strong afternoon, going second fastest in the final stage to fend off a charging Sébastien Ogier by 1.3s at the end of the day. Ogier had won the first two stages of the morning as he moved ahead of Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) for third, only for Fourmaux to take the place back in María las Cruces. In the afternoon, Ogier was again quickest in the first two stages before a stronger second pass through María las Cruces created a margin of 10.7s to Fourmaux.
Sami Pajari continues to run in fifth overall after a solid and consistent day, while Takamoto Katsuta was frequently inside the top six stage times despite running first on the loose gravel roads as he restarted following his first day retirement.
Following their accident in Friday’s final stage and subsequent medical examinations, TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto was released without injury. Co-driver Topi Luhtinen sustained two fractured vertebrae and a broken sternum and underwent successful surgery on Saturday. The team wishes him a full and fast recovery.
Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“This was a really good day for us. 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. All of our guys did a good job today. Oliver could respond to the pressure from Elfyn this morning and ultimately extend his lead, and Elfyn also drove really well this afternoon to stay ahead of Seb, who was really fast today. Sami has been maybe missing a little bit here but is still driving smart, and we are very happy to see Taka setting good times today even though he was first on the road.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been quite an OK day for us, but I feel it could have been better. It was a clean day but we were perhaps not quite on the edge enough to keep Oliver honest and keep the gap where we might have wanted it to be tonight. In some stages our rhythm was not the best or we were perhaps too cautious in how we were managing the tyres on these abrasive stages. We just need to keep fighting and try to take as many points as we can from the final day like always.”
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Overall I have to be happy with my day. We gave everything and we managed to win both passes of the first two stages. The last stage was the driest and loosest and after a couple of retirements ahead we didn’t have enough cars in front of us to make a clean enough line. I think we maximised our tyre choices by being a bit more aggressive, and I enjoyed the driving today, it was good fun. We’re still in a fight for these podium places; tomorrow is a long day and we will keep pushing.”
Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It’s been a great day. I think we’ve found a good balance so far this weekend between risk and reward and taking care of the tyres and choosing when we need to push. I was maybe a little bit careful in the first two stages this morning, but could take the time back in the third one, and this afternoon I’m glad we could extend our gap. Tomorrow will still be a tricky day. We just need to prepare well, do a good job and try to have the best Sunday that we can.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Thanks to the team for getting us back on the road today and for their support and advice after what happened yesterday. The main focus is just getting the feeling back with the driving. It’s not easy to be the first car on the road and cleaning the gravel, but I think our times were quite OK today. There’s still some room to improve and find a better feeling, but so far so good and we try to continue like this tomorrow.”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“This was quite a tricky day for us. Our target was to try and catch the guys in front and the gap was only a few seconds this morning, but for some reason we just didn’t have the pace for that this time. It’s unfortunate but that’s the way it goes sometimes in this sport. We need to try to understand why we’re losing time, and otherwise just keep pushing tomorrow and hope that we can take some good points.”
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 as of 20:00 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
What’s next?
The final day’s action takes place in a similar region to Saturday’s, where two stages will be run twice to form 71.2 competitive kilometres. The Carampangue test is almost entirely new to the WRC and is followed by Biobío – the second pass of which serves as the rally-ending Power Stage. Although there is no service between the two loops, another tyre exchange will be permitted.
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