Метка: Rally Chile

Evans rues unfortunate WRC Chile “double whammy”

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Elfyn Evans has explained how he paid the price for an unfortunate “double whammy” of events that resulted in losing the Rally Chile lead to Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanpera.

Evans had enjoyed one of the strongest Saturday mornings of the season, winning two of the three stages to open up an 11.3s lead over reigning world champion Rovanpera.

But the Welshman, searching for a his first win in a frustrating campaign, witnessed his work unravel as thick fog descended on stage 11.

Evans appeared to suffer the worst of the conditions that severely hampered visibility and reduced him to a crawl at places in the stage.

Evans lost 24.1s in the test and relinquished the lead to Rovanpera. To rub salt into the wounds, Evans had opted to run his soft tyres in the stage and was unable to make use of them due to the poor visibility.

Rovanpera saved his softs for the wetter stage 12, the final test of the loop, and maximised the grip advantage they offered to open up a 15.1s advantage over Evans heading into Sunday’s four stages.

“The fog was really really bad in the middle one [stage],” reflected Evans.

“It was like a bit of a double whammy as we decided to play our softs for this stage and of course I couldn’t make the most of it as I couldn’t see where I was going. Then we suffered a bit in the last one, as Kalle had two softs to use.

Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“Our understanding was that the [last] stage was more dry than the reality, so I was not so happy with the last two stages.

“The fog was so dense that I couldn’t see the edge of the road. I was literally stopped in a few places as I had no idea where the edge of the road was and where we were heading, so that was quite bad.

“We can be pretty pleased with the performance overall. Of course you naturally feel disappointed, having had a good couple of days behind the wheel on the right trajectory. But then to get hit with the conditions we did was not ideal.”

Rovanpera admitted his Saturday was a day of two halves, having initially lost out to Evans in the morning before the tables turned in the afternoon.

“We were definitely not so strong in the morning and then when the weather got more damp and tricky with all the fog we were much stronger,” said Rovanpera, who is aiming for his fourth win of the season.

“I would say stage 11 was the most foggy condition I have ever driven, and even on a 100-metre straight you are going recce speed because you don’t know where the road is, as you can barely see in front of you. It was really difficult conditions, but we managed it.

“There is still a long day to go and like we saw in Finland [where I crashed from the lead] sometimes it is not up to you what happens in rallying.

“But for the team it was important to get a one-two in points on Saturday and we will try to bring as many points as we can on Sunday.”



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Kalle Rovanperä leads as thick fog shuffles the order

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


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.

Chile’s abrasive stages coupled with unpredictable weather made tyre choice incredibly difficult to call for the crews.

Rally leader Evans, Rovanpera, Neuville and Lappi opted for four hards and two softs in the hope rain might arrive while Tanak, Munster, Fourmaux and Sesks plumped for six hards.

Stage 10 (Pelun, 15.65km), the first of the afternoon loop, was devoid of any rain and was much drier than the first pass but there were patches of fog.

Evans triumphed in the first pass of the mountainous stage and repeated the feat in the afternoon. The rally leader was 2.3s faster than Rovanpera to extend his advantage over his team-mate to 13.6s.

Rovanpera was, however, a little concerned over his tyre choice, stating: “It is really hard to tell how fast to go on the downhill as you don’t want to kill the tyres. We have two hard tyres with us again so we hope that works for us.”

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

Tanak was third fastest, 3.3s adrift, 1.5s quicker than Neuville. There was a position change behind as Fourmaux climbed ahead of his team-mate Munster into sixth overall.

The difficulty level went up another notch in stage 11 (Lota, 25.64km) as thick fog blanketed the middle section of the stage reducing visibility to 20 metres in places. This was sandwiched by a dry section at the start and a wet and muddy final part.

The stage proved to be a turning point in the rally as the fog became increasingly thick after each pass.

Munster described the situation as “driving blind” while Evans said “he couldn’t see beyond his bonnet” as he suffered the worst of the conditions.

As a result, Evans was reduced to a crawl in the fog losing 24.1s and the rally lead in the process.

“I don’t know how you are meant to rally in those conditions,” said a frustrated Evans at the stage end as he dropped 5.5s behind new rally leader Rovanpera.

Rovanpera emerged as the star of the stage as he somehow managed to deal with the poor visibility to lose only five seconds to eventual stage winner Neuville.

“It was really bad, I don’t think I’ve ever driven in that kind of condition in a rally car,” said Rovanpera.

Neuville seemingly benefited from running through the stage slightly earlier than his rivals. The Belgian started the stage 53.6s off the lead but ended the test only 35s adrift and 14.2s behind third-placed Tanak.

M-Sport duo Fourmaux and Munster climbed to fifth and sixth overall as they leapfrogged a cautious Pajari, who chose to back off in the fog and dropped to seventh.

Lappi became further adrift of the Rally1 pack in eighth after mistakenly checking into the stage early, resulting in a two-minute penalty.

The stage was later red flagged as conditions worsened.

The fog eased for stage 12 (Maria las Cruces, 28.31km), but the rain then arrived, benefiting those that had taken soft tyres.

Fourmaux took the stage win by 0.8s from Rovanpera, who managed to maximise his two soft tyres to extend his rally lead.

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

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

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Evans felt he lacked commitment during his run as he saw the deficit to his team-mate expand to 15.1s.

Tanak was left even more frustrated given the team’s weather prediction led him to choose hard tyres that proved to be the wrong compound.

“They say no rain expected this evening — obviously it was completely wrong information,” said Tanak. “Everything is difficult in this life, still you need to be on it.”

Elsewhere, Pajari managed to recover sixth overall from Munster after pipping the Ford driver by five seconds.

Oliver Solberg’s hopes of sealing the WRC2 title suffered a blow when he stopped to change a wheel in the foggy stage 11. That dropped the Swede from the class lead to fourth behind Nikolay Gryazin, Gus Greensmith and Yohan Rossel.

Four stages await the crews on Sunday to conclude Rally Chile.



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Ogier concedes WRC title run is over after Chile retirement

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Sebastien Ogier believes his bid for a record-equalling ninth World Rally Championship title is over after retiring from Rally Chile.

The Toyota driver headed into the final gravel round of the season 38 points adrift of championship leader, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, having emerged as a serious title contender after winning Rally Finland in August.

Ogier’s three wins and three second-place finishes meant he led Toyota’s charge in the drivers’ championship, which resulted in the team asking the Frenchman to extend his partial campaign by competing in all the remaining rounds of the year.

Ogier remained in contention despite rolling in the final stage of the Acropolis Rally Greece earlier this month.

The Frenchman again showed impressive pace in Chile before hitting a bank, which knocked a tyre off the rim on Friday, costing him 1m45s.

Ogier managed to climb back from 15th to ninth position before hitting a rock in stage eight, which broke a bolt in his GR Yaris’ front suspension and left him stranded in a ditch.

“It was pretty simple, there were rocks on the line at the braking point and at least very close to the line, something I didn’t have in my notes,» said Ogier when explaining the incident.

“At this braking point the problem is when you are on the brake you are fully loaded and then a small impact can make big damage, but actually it wasn’t big damage, it was just a bolt that was broken.

“It was just a broken bolt that is it and then I cannot make the next corner and then we are stuck in a ditch as it was very soft in this place. We didn’t have the bolt to fix it.

“That is the way it goes. I think the frustrating thing at the moment is that I couldn’t make anything from these last two rallies where I had one of the best speeds and have been very dominant in terms of speed but it doesn’t help anything if you don’t bring it home.”

Sébastien Ogier, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Toyota Racing

When asked what the retirement meant for his title hopes, he added: “It looks like it [is over] for sure.

“Again at least on this side I’m not even really disappointed because it just became a target maybe two rallies ago, and it wasn’t really one.

“Many people have told me that I would not do the championship a favour if I won it not competing the whole season, so in that way it is positive.

“At the end of the day I am a competitor and as long as the opportunity came up I tried to fight for it.

“I’m pleased with the speed I have had in the last rallies and I have done everything I could, and one time on the team side with the turbo issue in Greece and here on my side, we have both done some mistakes that were too costly.”

Ogier says his focus is now firmly on his original goal of helping Toyota in the manufacturers’ championship, with the Japanese brand sitting 35 points behind rival Hyundai.

“That was my main target this year to help the team for that,” he said.

“Unfortunately in the manufacturers’ championship we are not in a great position, but at the moment my team-mates are doing well and I cross my fingers they can carry on like this and it will be nice to keep it alive as long as we can.”

Watch: Rally Chile Bio Bío Saturday morning highlights



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WRC Chile: Elfyn Evans leads Rovanperä

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Elfyn Evans claimed two of the three Saturday morning stages to extend his Rally Chile lead as reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä emerged as his nearest rival.

Evans, who was handed a three-second overnight lead following a change to his notional stage one time, completed a trio of abrasive gravel stages with a 11.3s margin over Toyota team-mate Rovanperä.

Hyundai’s Ott Tänak slipped from second to third some 17.4s in arrears, while championship leader Thierry Neuville hauled his Hyundai from sixth to fourth [+48.8s].

Toyota’s rising star Sami Pajari continued his impressive drive to hold fifth [+1m03.4s] in only his second Rally1 outing, ahead of M-Sport duo Gregoire Munster [+1m24.5s] and Adrien Fourmaux [+1m24.9s]. Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi rounded out the top eight, while M-Sport’s Martins Sesks rejoined the rally after his Friday retirement.

Managing tyre wear was the main objective through Saturday’s rough stages, which was reflected in the tyre choices by the crews. Four hards and two softs was the favoured package, while Sébastien Ogier gambled by taking four softs and two hards.

It appeared Ogier’s choice was inspired, as crews tackled a damp mountainous run through stage seven (Pelon, 15.66km) as the Frenchman set a blistering time from second on the road.

It stood until rally leader Evans completed his pass, pipping his team-mate by 0.9s to claim a second stage win of the event. Importantly, Evans was 4.1s quicker than Tänak to extend his rally lead over the Hyundai to 7.1s.

Rovanperä appeared much more comfortable on the abrasive gravel as the Finn closed to within 4.4s of second-placed Tänak.

“I would say it is a bit better for me today feeling-wise, let’s see if we can find some speed today,” said Rovanperä.

“It is not going to be easy the whole loop, managing the tyre wear is key and also driving in the line.

“It is quite humid in the car today, I don’t know why I’m sweating so much, maybe I need to go for a run.”

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Championship leader Neuville was only two tenths of a second slower than Tänak, which helped the Belgian climb to fifth overall. Munster, who admitted he wasn’t fully awake, slipped to sixth after dropping 27.4s on the tricky slippery roads.

Lappi was also caught out by the slippery conditions resulting in the Finn ripping the front bumper off his i20 N.

“It was tricky to see, it stayed in front of me and turned up — I saw a cut and used that to rip it [the bumper] off,” said Lappi.

Stage eight (Lota 25.6km) provided a twist in the title race as Ogier, sitting 38 points behind leader Neuville, retired from the day after hitting a rock 400 metres from the finish.

Ogier hit the rock on the entry to a slow left-hander but the impact seemingly broke something on his GR Yaris, which slowly careered wide into a bank on the exit of the corner.

Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais quickly leapt out of the car to assess the damage but it appeared their day was over.

The rally leaderboard also underwent a bit of a shake-up as Rovanperä delivered an impressive stage win after navigating through sections of low cloud, 9.7s faster than rally leader Evans, who felt he “didn’t drive to his correct rhythm”.

The effort moved Rovanperä into second overall, only 1.6s behind team-mate Evans, but ahead of Tänak, who lost time to a half spin at a right hander.

“That’s a good [run] — the stage is really nice, the road is really rough on the tyres and you need to take a bit of care,” said Rovanperä.

Neuville continued his charge to end the test 9.4s behind fourth-placed Pajari.

Evans saved his best drive of the rally to date for the morning’s final stage (Maria las Cruces, 28.31km), held in tricky foggy and damp conditions.

The Welshman posted a blistering effort, while managing his tyres, to stop the clocks in the rally’s longest test eight seconds faster than anyone else to take the stage win.

Despite revealing that he was carrying a serious problem, Neuville emerged as his nearest rival as the Hyundai driver moved ahead of Pajari into fourth overall.

Tänak could only complete the stage 9.3s adrift with Rovanperä a further 0.2s back, which helped Evans into an 11.3s lead over the latter.

In WRC2, Oliver Solberg leapt into the class lead (ninth overall) after the Swede overhauled Yohan Rossel on stage nine. If Solberg wins the rally, he will claim the WRC2 title.

The crews will repeat the stages this afternoon to complete Saturday’s leg.



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Ogier retires after hitting rock in stage eight

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Sebastien Ogier’s World Rally Championship title hopes have suffered a blow after retiring from Rally Chile on stage eight.

The eight-time world champion hit a rock with the front-right wheel of his GR Yaris, 400 metres from the finish of stage eight (Lota, 25.6km).

Ogier hit the rock on the entry to a slow left-hander but the impact seemingly broke something on his Yaris, which then slowly careered wide into a bank on the exit of the corner.

Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais quickly leapt out of the car to assess the damage but it appeared their day was over.

M-Sport-Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux was the first driver to come across Ogier’s stricken Toyota.

“He hit a rock on the inside of a braking, it was a really big rock,” said Fourmaux.

“It’s really a shame for him, definitely not his rally and we are really sorry for him.”

Sébastien Ogier, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Ogier entered the event sitting 38 points behind championship leader Neuville, and was holding ninth overall in the rally standings after losing almost two minutes on Friday to a puncture caused by a run-in with a bank on stage three.

Neuville was unperturbed when asked about seeing his rival on the side of the road.

“I didn’t think about [Ogier], he was anyhow behind — we think about ourselves,” said Neuville.

Ogier had started Saturday by opting for a tyre gamble, taking four softs and two hards for the morning’s abrasive gravel stages.

The Frenchman posted a blistering second fastest time on the day’s opening stage despite starting second on the road.

Rally leader and team-mate Elfyn Evans was the only driver to surpass the time as the Welshman won the stage to extend his rally lead to 7.1s over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak.

Evans managed to hang onto the rally lead at the end of stage eight but his margin was cut to 1.8s over Kalle Rovanpera, who won the test to leap from third to second overall.

Tanak dropped from second to third, 8.1s adrift, after suffering a half spin in the test.



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Elfyn Evans keeps WRC Rally Chile lead after Hyundai protest

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Toyota’s Elfyn Evans has held onto the Rally Chile lead after stewards rejected a protest from the Hyundai World Rally Championship team against the reallocation of a notional stage time.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak ended Friday’s six stages with a 0.4-second margin over Evans before stewards received a request to review the notional time issued to Evans following the cancellation of stage one.

Only Thierry Neuville, Tanak and Sebastien 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 (the slowest time), 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 (stage four).

Following these runs, the clerk of the course received a request to review the allocated time awarded to Evans.

After reviewing the times posted in the second pass of the stage, Evans, M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux and Toyota’s Sami Pajari have been issued new notional times for stage one.

As a result, Evans’ new time was two seconds faster than Tanak instead of being 1.4s slower, handing the Toyota driver a revised three-second rally lead.

Hyundai subsequently lodged a protest against the clerk of the course’s decision on Friday night. Following a hearing attended by representatives from Hyundai and Toyota, stewards elected to reject the protest, ensuring Evans’ reallocated notional time stands heading into Saturday’s six stages.

“The protester’s representative explained that the stages [SS1 and SS4] were conducted differently and this may have accounted for differences in the respective stage times,” read the stewards report.

“Mr. [Tolga] Ozakinci [Hyundai team manager] stated that, in their opinion, the ideal principle for allocating notional times should be based on the fastest stage time achieved by the crew to complete SS1 [crew of car no. 17 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais] rather than the slowest time achieved by the crew to complete SS1 [i.e. crew of car bo. 11 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe].

“Mr. Ozakinci agreed with the chairperson that the authority judging fairness lies with the clerk of course’s determination, as stated within Article 52 of the 2024 FIA WRC sporting regulations.

“However, the competitor believed that the principle proposed by them was also fair and should be considered. Consequently, it was their opinion that the stewards should adopt their suggested principle as against that adopted by the clerk of the course.

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“The FIA sporting delegate stated that the principle usually adopted within the WRC to allocate notional times has been to consider the time achieved for the stage by the slowest car in the class instead of the fastest car.“He also explained that there are other methods that could be used to calculate and establish a fair allocation of notional times based on different criteria.

“After SS4, the clerk of the course determined that only car no. 33 had improved its time on SS4 and as such decided not to consider the stage time of SS4 for allocation purposes. However, after receiving a request from the concerned party to reconsider the notional time allocated in COC Notification No. 1, the clerk of the course reviewed the stage times achieved on SS4 and issued COC Notification No. 2 to reallocate stage times for cars 33, 16, and 5 accordingly.

“The FIA sporting delegate stated that they viewed the allocation of notional times for SS1 to be in line with the established procedure.“He acknowledged that the procedure of allocating notional times is not an exact science and opens the door to alternative interpretations, with a possibility that each different party views fairness differently.

“In rebuttal, the protester considered that car no. 33 should be allocated a slower notional time than that allocated in COC Notification No. 2. They suggested that the setting of notional times should be conducted in a subjective way and not objectively.”

In response to Hyundai’s argument, the stewards admitted that the protestor’s “proposed method for calculating the notional times for the cars affected on SS1 as set out in their protest could be adopted, but consider that this is only one method for calculating the notional times”.

In summary, the stewards concluded that “the method adopted by the Clerk of the Course to allocate for SS1 notional times as specified in CoC Notification No. 2 was fair and reasonable.

“The protester has therefore failed to establish that the notional times allocated by the clerk of the course to the affected cars by CoC Notification No. 2 was unfair in an objective way.

“Accordingly, the notional times allocated to the cars remain as set out in CoC Notification No. 2.”



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Tanak surprised by WRC Rally Chile pace after Friday struggles

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Ott Tanak admitted he was surprised to be fighting for the Rally Chile victory having initially written off his chances after Friday’s first stage.

The Hyundai driver delivered an impressive drive from second on the road to lead Toyota’s Elfyn Evans by 0.4 seconds at the end of Friday’s six stages.

Tanak will, however, head into Saturday’s stages trailing Evans by three seconds after officials issued an adjustment to Evans’ notional stage one time, which handed the Toyota driver the rally lead.

Tanak was never totally comfortable behind the wheel of his i20 N on the slippery gravel roads that led to the two-time Chile winner chasing set-up throughout Friday to tame his car.

Constant set-up changes in between stages helped Tanak find confidence to sit atop of the timesheets.

“I definitely am [surprised to be in this position] — after the first stage I said to the engineers that a top six or top eight is the maximum, it was not driving at all,” said Tanak.

“Thierry was struggling, I was struggling and Esapekka [Lappi] was struggling even more. 

“We clearly had struggles with the car and the set-up. It is something with these kind of roads but we should be able to react.

“In the morning, it was looking extremely demanding and I really struggled to find any kind of feeling in the car. 

“It was quite difficult for the afternoon but obviously the grip improved a bit and the car improved a little bit.

“I’m not really feeling fully like I should but at the moment we tried to take the maximum out of it.”

Saturday’s stages are set to offer a completely new challenge with the road surface much more abrasive compared to Friday’s tests, meaning tyre management will be crucial.

Tanak mastered these conditions last year while driving for M-Sport, which proved to be key in his run to victory.

“The characteristics is completely different for sure but normally from the road we should get more grip and much better road positions and altogether we should be in a better position,» he added.

“I’m not sure if it [the tyre wear] will be exactly the same [as last year], but I’m sure tyres will be the story again.”

Neuville attributes struggles to set-up mistake

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

While Tanak was able to coax his i20 N into a better operating window, championship leader Thierry Neuville believes his struggles for pace were down to going the wrong way on car set-up.

Neuville, who started first on the road, ended Friday in sixth position 30.3s behind team-mate Tanak after admitting he was fighting with his car across the six stages.

“I think we were just on the wrong set-up as I cannot explain how I could’ve struggled that much out there,” said Neuville.  

“The pace wasn’t there and the feeling wasn’t good. We didn’t have any fun out there today. We did some set-up changes but it was not what we needed.

“We are 30 seconds off the lead and we are only 20 seconds behind fourth and fifth and that must be our target. 

“Clearly we need a bit more performance and a bit more speed and we need to chase these positions.

“I honestly believe that, if the car gives me the necessary confidence, it should be possible.”



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Elfyn Evans regains WRC Rally Chile lead after notional time adjustment

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Elfyn Evans has been 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.

Following these runs, the clerk of the course received a request to review the allocated time awarded to Evans.

After reviewing the times posted in the second pass of the stage, Evans, M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux and Toyota’s Sami Pajari have been issued new notional times for stage one.

As a result, Evans’ new time was two seconds faster than Tanak instead of being 1.4s slower, handing the Toyota driver the rally lead.

Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Evans started Friday strongly to lead the rally heading into midday service with a 2.2s advantage over Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanpera.

Evans then appeared too struggle for confidence in the afternoon before issuing a crucial fightback on the day’s final stage.

Speaking before the reallocation of national times, Evans said: “I think the afternoon could have been better. I think the feeling in the morning was quite okay but I struggled a bit in the afternoon.

“I couldn’t really find the confidence I was hoping for, at least the feeling was not the same as the morning.

“It was pretty much the same car as the morning but I think it was the conditions and the way the car was behaving in those conditions really.

“It is early days in this rally and we know how pivotal the Saturday was last year, so there is a big day ahead.”

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Tanak holds on to lead Evans by 0.4s

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Ott Tanak held off World Rally Championship title rival Elfyn Evans to claim a slender 0.4s Rally Chile lead on the opening day of the final gravel round of the season.

Tanak was never totally comfortable with his Hyundai i20 N through the day’s six slippery gravel stages but consistent pace helped the Estonian snatch the lead away from Evans.

Evans issued a fightback on the final stage of the afternoon loop, but was unable to hustle his Toyota back to the lead he held after the morning loop.

World champion Kalle Rovanpera ended the day in third [+7.1s] despite struggling for confidence, while his Rally1 rookie Toyota team-mate Sami Pajari came through in fourth [+9.3s].

Gregoire Munster rounded out the top five [+10.7s] ahead of championship leader and road opener Thierry Neuville [+30.3s]. Esapekka Lappi [+36.1s], Adrien Fourmaux [+1m01.0s], and Sebastien Ogier [+1m24.9s] completed the Rally1 field.

M-Sport’s Martins Sesks retired from Friday’s action after picking up a double puncture on stage three.

The second pass through the stages proved to be equally as challenging as the first, as crews faced tricky loose gravel, but the unpredictable road surface didn’t halt a fired up Ogier, desperate to recover from picking up a puncture in stage three after hitting a bank.

The Frenchman, who monstered the morning’s first pass through Pulperia, repeated the feat in the afternoon. Ogier was 5.9s faster than nearest rival Tanak, and a whopping 10.5s quicker than the rally leader Evans.

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

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

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

The effort helped Ogier climb from 15th to ninth overall despite losing almost two minutes to a wheel change on stage three.

Tanak’s committed run pushed him up to second overall and 2.7s behind Evans. Tanak benefitted from a rare mistake by Rovanpera, who lost the rear of his GR Yaris and overshot a corner, costing the world champion valuable seconds.

«I had a bit of a wide moment in a low speed corner, nothing too dramatic but a bit unfortunate. I had to reverse out, not too optimal when you consider our pace this morning,” said Rovanpera.

Fourmaux delivered a time good enough for fourth quickest to jump to fourth overall ahead of Pajari and Munster.

Following on from the morning, Neuville continued to fight his i20 N for grip, being the first to tackle the road, as the Belgian held onto seventh overall.

Neuville did however open the gap over team-mate Lappi after the latter suffered a right-rear tyre delamination during his run.

“For sure I did not hit anything,” said Lappi.

The drama continued to unfold but this time it was Fourmaux to hit trouble before stage five [Rere, 13,34km]. The M-Sport driver’s Ford Puma suffered an alternator issue on the preceding road section and while repairing that, a water pipe was damaged when Fourmaux tried to put the fan back in position.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Fourmaux managed to reach the stage startline, albeit six minutes late, incurring a one-minute penalty in the process.

Despite driving a wounded car he clocked the second-fastest time, which would have put him into third overall without the penalty. Ogier once again lit up the timing screens to take his third stage win of the day by 0.2s.

However, it was Tanak that grabbed the headlines as another committed run, clocking the third-fastest time, was enough to help the Hyundai driver overhaul leader Evans.

Evans won the morning pass through the stage but was unable to replicate the confidence and speed during the second pass, finishing 6.5s behind pacesetter Ogier. Evans’ team-mate Rovanpera was also out of sorts as he struggled to gel with slippery gravel roads.

In contrast, Munster appeared to revel in the conditions as he pipped the Finn to move back to fourth overall.

Evans dug deep to fightback in the final stage of the loop [San Rosendo, 23.32km] to take 2.1s out of Tanak to end the day 0.4s adrift of the rally leader.

Fourmaux again managed to perform miracles with his damaged Puma to win the final stage of the loop by 1.8s from Ogier, running without hybrid power.

Munster’s strong day ended with a right-rear puncture which dropped the M-Sport driver to fifth overall.

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin survived a wild two wheel moment to lead title favourite Oliver Solberg by 10.2s.

Six stages make up Saturday’s leg, comprising 139.20 competitive kilometres.



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