Friday
Elfyn Evans was handed the Rally Chile lead after World Rally Championship officials issued an adjustment to the notional stage one time awarded to the Toyota driver.
Evans had ended Friday’s six stages trailing Hyundai’s Ott Tanak by 0.4s, but a change in the notional time awarded to the Welshman for the interrupted opening stage has put Evans into a three second lead.
Only Thierry Neuville, Tanak and Sébastien Ogier successfully navigated through stage one (Pulperia, 19,72km) before officials were forced to cancel the test on spectator safety grounds.
Notional times based on Neuville’s effort were awarded to the rest of the Rally1 field, who were forced to complete the stage in road mode. This was, however, subject to revision after the second pass of the test later in the day.
Saturday
Kalle Rovanpera moved ahead of Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans to lead Rally Chile as thick fog turned the fight for the World Rally Championship victory on its head.
The reigning world champion started Saturday in third but emerged through treacherous weather and incredibly poor visibility to head overnight leader Evans by 15.1 seconds going into Sunday’s final four stages.
Rovanpera took the provisional 18 points for topping Saturday’s classification as Evans scooped up 15 points.
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak’s tyre gamble didn’t pay off as he dropped to third, 33.6s adrift (13 points) while championship leader Thierry Neuville hauled himself into the fight in fourth [+43.7s, 10 points].
M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux ended the day in fifth [+1m23.0s] ahead of Toyota young gun Sami Pajari [+1m49.5s] and the second full-time M-Sport entry driven by Gregoire Munster [+1m50.6s], with Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi a distant eighth [+5m14.6s].
Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier retired from ninth position after hitting a rock in the morning’s stage eight, while M-Sport’s Martins Sesks completed the six stages after rejoining the rally following a double puncture on Friday.
Sunday
Rovanperä survived challenging foggy conditions to record a fourth win from a partial World Rally Championship campaign at Rally Chile.
Reigning world champion duo Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen tamed 16 tricky stages, some of which were affected by treacherous thick fog and slippery conditions, to beat Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by 23.4s. Hyundai’s Ott Tänak completed the podium, 43.9s behind, in the final gravel round of the year.
Rovanperä had initially struggled for outright speed in Friday’s dry conditions, admitting that his driving style didn’t suit Chile’s loose gravel stages. However, the Finn managed to haul his GR Yaris through the day’s six tests in third, 10.1s off the pace.
Evans secured 21 points from the weekend after finishing third in the Sunday standings and fifth on the Power Stage.
Neuville reached the rally finish in fourth [+1m01.2s], but his championship lead was reduced to 29 points over Tänak with two rounds of the season remaining.
M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux brought his Ford Puma home in fifth [+2m02.7s] after an eventful Friday dashed his podium hopes.
Toyota’s rising star Sami Pajari, selected instead of regular Takamoto Katsuta. The Finn completed an error-free drive in only his second Rally1 start to claim sixth [+2m39.8s].
Gregoire Munster produced arguably his best drive of the year to finish seventh [+2m47.8s], having challenged for a top five result by sitting in fourth on Friday.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi struggled to extract grip from his i20 N throughout the rally. A delaminated tyre on Friday and a two-minute penalty for checking into Saturday’s stage 11 early left the Finn a distant eighth.
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel boosted his title hopes by taking the class victory, finishing eighth overall. The Frenchman vaulted into the lead heading into Sunday after stewards took 40s off his overall time, judging that title contender Oliver Solberg held up the Citroen driver in stage 11.
Solberg, who could have sealed the title had he won the class, lost the lead after suffering a puncture which dropped the Swede to fourth in WRC2, behind Nikolay Gryazin and Gus Greensmith.
Paraguay’s Diego Dominguez clinched the WRC3 title after winning the class.
