Rally Chile stewards have dismissed an FIA petition to re-examine an allocated time that helped Yohan Rossel to WRC2 victory following a hearing at the Central European Rally.   

Event stewards originally deemed that WRC2 championship leader Oliver Solberg had hindered Rossel during a fog-affected stage 11 (Lota 2) last month and subsequently knocked 40s from the latter’s stage time. 

Solberg was leading the class in the test when he suffered a puncture which cost the Swede 1m30s to change a wheel. Solberg rejoined the stage ahead of Rossel, who felt he had been held up by the Skoda driver while passing through the stage affected by thick fog.

Solberg could have sealed the WRC2 title had he won in Chile, but ultimately finished the rally in fourth, while Rossel took the victory to boost his own title aspirations. 

Solberg’s Toksport team subsequently lodged a protest asking the stewards to re-evaluate a notional time awarded to Rossel, which was deemed inadmissible «because, under the FIA International Sporting Code, it is not permissible for the Stewards to review/re-hear their decisions through a protest.”

However, last week the case was re-opened following a petition led by FIA road sport director Andrew Wheatley that claimed to have new video information that wasn’t available at the time of the original hearing.

Yohan Rossel, Florian Barral, DG Sport Competition Citroen C3 Rally2

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Following a hearing on Wednesday, the stewards have communicated that the petition has been dismissed and Rossel’s notional time will stand, meaning he will keep the victory. 

“The FIA’s petition for the Stewards to re-examine the time allocated for Car No 21 on SS11 (Lota 2) is dismissed,» read the stewards’ report in part.

“Stewards’ Decision No. 5 remains in place, unaltered.

“The Stewards have considered this case extensively and thoroughly. In light of all the circumstances, the Stewards conclude that the reasonable safety measures taken by Car No. 21 (Rossel) justified correcting their time lost on SS11 by 40 seconds.

“The Stewards therefore stand by Stewards’ Decision No. 5 and choose not to change it. Considering any other notional time for Car No. 21 would involve conjecture and subjective facts to be assumed, especially now after the rally has ended.» 

A victory for Rossel in the WRC2 class at this weekend’s Central European Rally will end Solberg’s title hopes. However, Sami Pajari can still beat Rossel to the title if he finishes third or better at Rally Japan next month.

Martins Sesks says he has “zero idea” where his future lies in the World Rally Championship after impressing in three Rally1 outings this year.

The 2023 European Rally Championship runner-up has outlined his rising star status following a trio of head-turning appearances in rallying’s top tier thanks to a programme with M-Sport-Ford, partially funded by the WRC Promoter.

Sesks’ reputation as a future talent has been enhanced by finishing fifth in Poland on debut before scoring maiden stage wins in Latvia on his way to a likely third-place finish before a mechanical issue struck his Puma on the final stage.

Last weekend the 25-year-old earned a third Rally1 outing, piloting a non-hybrid powered Ford Puma, at Rally Chile, an event Sesks had never previously contested.

The rally provided a steep yet valuable learning curve after suffering a double puncture in stage two. With only one spare wheel at their disposal, Sesks and co-driver Renars Francis were forced to retire.

The pair did enjoy a clean run through Saturday and Sunday’s stages, despite a sudden rear wing failure on the penultimate stage, to log crucial Rally1 kilometres.

“I think if you had told me I would be driving a Rally1 car on three occasions this year I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Sesks.

Martins Sesks, Renars Francis, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

“Coming to South America for the first time and driving a Rally1 car has been amazing. It was really challenging the first two occasions went quite smoothly I would say from a driving perspective but this was a real challenge and there was a lot of learning.

“I think we have learned a lot for the future and now we know how to approach WRC rallies where we don’t know the roads.”

Sesks’ three outings have impressed management at M-Sport which is yet to confirm its driver line-up for next year. M-Sport’s lead driver Adrien Fourmaux is at the centre of the WRC silly season having been linked with a move away from the Ford squad to Hyundai.

When asked about his future in in the WRC, Sesks said: “I have zero idea actually. We have done this rally and I don’t know what is going to happen next. We are ready to take every opportunity. It depends how, when and what we can do in the future.”

M-Sport team principal Richard Millener, who was keen to see how Sesks would cope on unfamiliar roads, felt the rookie did a “great job” in the circumstances.

“For Martins and Renars, I guess it wasn’t quite what they had hoped for,” said Millener. “A small mistake with big consequences on Friday, and a tough last stage with no rear spoiler, but I think they still did a great job and got an insight into the experience that they need to learn to get to the top of the WRC — one of the key reasons to bring them here.”

Esapekka Lappi says he isn’t afraid by his uncertain World Rally Championship future as Hyundai continues to evaluate its driver options for its third car next year.

The two-time WRC rally winner confirmed that his future is yet to be determined with last weekend’s Rally Chile set to be his final event of the year with the Korean marque.

Last season, Lappi contested a full-time season with Hyundai before moving to a part-time programme, sharing the third car with Andreas Mikkelsen and Dani Sordo this season.

Hyundai has confirmed that Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak will continue in a full-time capacity next year, but its plans for its third car are yet to be announced. Team principal Cyril Abiteboul has previously stated that team is exploring scenarios for its third car. M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux has been linked with a move to Hyundai.  

Lappi has endured a season of highs and lows, claiming a second career win in Sweden, but has since scored 14 points from his appearances in Kenya, Latvia (DNF), Finland and Chile (DNF).

The 33-year-old admitted before the start of Rally Chile that he has had discussions with the team regarding his future and would be keen for another part-time season.

«If I could choose, I would do a similar programme to this year and maybe do a couple of events more,» said Lappi. 

«This three-month break after Kenya was too much. If we could do a similar programme with better planning and better testing and without long breaks then yeah I think that could be really nice. 

Esapekka Lappi, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

«We have talked about it but nothing is decided and even if they [the team] still keep doing the shared third car it doesn’t mean that automatically I will be there but still I’m not afraid. I know if this stops then my life will be fine.»

Lappi struggled to extract speed from his i20 N in Chile before ultimately retiring from the event while occupying eighth position after damaging the front of his car in the penultimate stage.  

«It was tough and I didn’t plan for it to go like this. I wanted to be a bit faster this weekend. I didn’t expect to be in the top five but somewhere in between,» he added.

«On Sunday the task was to attack to be in between the Toyotas and mix up the points but I didn’t have the speed. I really attacked the penultimate stage where I lost the bumper but in the end we were also quite useless, so not much positives from the weekend.»

Lappi’s co-driver announces WRC retirement in Chile 

Should Lappi continue in the WRC next year, he will do so with a new co-driver after Janne Ferm announced his retirement from the championship in Chile.

Ferm has navigated for Lappi’s entire 90 WRC event career with the partnership beginning at Rally Finland in 2011. Since then the duo have scored wins in Finland, 2017 and Sweden this year as well as the 2016 WRC2 title.

«I need to thank Janne for 15 seasons together. We were both rookies when we started and we climbed up the hill to be professionals together, and now this journey comes to an end,» said Lappi.

Esapekka Lappi, Janne Ferm, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

«I’m sure we still sit together in a rally car, but not professionally. He has been the loudest laugher of the team – you might not see him, but you can hear him from very far away. We will miss his jokes and sense of humour.»

Ferm had planned to retire from WRC competition at the end of last season before Lappi convinced the 44-year-old to continue for this year’s part-time campaign.

«It was already last year [I thought about it] but then Esapekka asked if it was ok if we did a part-time season. But now it is time to move away,» said Ferm. 

«I love the sport and I love the people around it. At the moment I have no plans I will chill out for the moment and then we will see. 

«There has been plenty of key moments in my career, for sure everyone is saying 2017 Rally Finland, but I have to say when I met Esapekka for the first time. After that we have been in a marriage for 15 years. The marriage is not ending but we are living separately,» he joked.

Kalle Rovanpera increased his Rally Chile lead over Toyota World Rally Championship team-mate Elfyn Evans after emerging from treacherous fog that severely reduced visibility.

The reigning world champion extended his margin to 20.3s over Evans with two stages of the final gravel rally of the season remaining.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak held third [+40.1s] ahead of championship leader Thierry Neuville [+57.5s], while M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux [+1m38.8s] and Toyota’s Sami Pajari [+2m25.4s] completed the top six. Gregoire Munster and Esapekka Lappi rounded out the Rally1 field that had completed the 14 stages.

Following his Saturday retirement that caused him to concede his world championship chances, retuning Toyota driver Sebastien Ogier led the Super Sunday standings from Rovanpera, Evans, Tanak, Lappi, Neuville and Fourmaux.

The weather and subsequent road conditions dominated the headlines on Sunday morning as crews faced a wet and muddy road surface, along with reduced visibility due to fog in stage 13 (Laraquete 18.62km). The stages were reminiscent of roads found at Wales Rally GB, last present on the WRC calendar in 2019.

While the fog wasn’t as thick compared to Saturday afternoon’s conditions, the low cloud meant visibility deteriorated in step with grip levels as each car passed.

Starting first on the road, Ogier actually benefitted from his advanced position. The Frenchman made the most of that and his experience in the conditions to post a stunning effort to win the stage and take an early lead in the Super Sunday classification.

Sébastien Ogier, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Rally leader Rovanpera came the closest to Ogier’s benchmark, 5.6s adrift, while Evans underestimated the speed levels in places and dropped 9.8s to his eight-time world champion Toyota team-mate.

“It was quite tricky, for sure the road is getting slower by each car, there is more mud coming out everywhere,” said Rovanpera, who extended his rally lead over Evans to 19.3s. “I think the guys in front didn’t have so much fog and it is coming out for us.”

Lappi started third on the road and was the fastest of the Hyundais, ahead of team-mates Tanak and a cautious Neuville, as Fourmaux led the M-Sport charge. Fourmaux’s team-mate Martins Sesks survived a half-spin, the Latvian rookie outlined the difficulty of the conditions.

Conditions significantly worsened by the time the field tackled stage 14 (Bio Bio, 8.78km), the dress rehearsal for the rally-ending Power Stage. Thick fog engulfed the short but tricky test, reducing visibility to around 20 metres.

Incredibly, despite the conditions only three tenths of a second separated the top three on the timing screens.

Ogier took the stage win by 0.2s from rally leader Rovanpera while Tanak was a tenth further back in third, but his effort did help leap ahead of Lappi to fourth in the Super Sunday classification.

“It’s not so fun, that’s the way it is,” said Ogier after increasing his Super Sunday lead over Rovanpera to 5.8s. “There are some sections where you barely see anything.”

Evans was fourth fastest on the test, 1.2s adrift, but the Welshman was faster than Neuville, who described the conditions as “on the limit”.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Fourmaux was five seconds slower than pace-setter Ogier, stating that he just tried to “keep the car on road as we don’t see anything”.

In WRC2, Yohan Rossel led the way after benefiting from having 40s taken off his overall time overnight.

The stewards deemed he was held up by a recovering Oliver Solberg following a puncture in Saturday’s stage 11.

Rossel felt the stage 14 conditions were dangerous but still completed the loop in ninth overall, with a 18.1s lead over Nikolay Gryazin. Gus Greensmith was third, ahead of Solberg.

A second pass through the stages will conclude Rally Chile this afternoon.