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

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

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.

Elfyn Evans snatched the Rally Chile lead from Toyota World Rally Championship team-mate Sebastien Ogier after the Frenchman was forced to change a wheel on stage three.

Evans delivered strong pace throughout the morning’s gravel stages to head to midday service with a 2.2s lead over Toyota team-mate and reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera.

Toyota protege Sami Pajari climbed to third [+6.6s} after Ogier’s drama, while Gregoire Munster’s fast and clean driving placed the M-Sport-Ford in fourth [+6.9s].

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak was fifth [+7.3s] ahead of Adrien Fourmaux [+7.4s] with championship leader Thierry Neuville in seventh [+13.8s] and team-mate Esapekka Lappi eighth [18.3s]. The top 10 was completed by WRC2 runners Nikolay Gryazin and Oliver Solberg, who could wrap up the title this weekend.

Only three cars successfully navigated through the rally’s opening stage (Pulperia, 19.72km) before officials were forced to cancel the test on spectator safety grounds.

Of the three cars to complete the stage, it was Ogier that set a blistering pace starting third on the road behind Neuville and Tanak.

Ogier was 9.1s faster than Tanak, who was in turn 1.4s faster than Neuville.

«All good, good start,» said Ogier who continued to offer little in stage-end interviews following his suspended €30,000 fine for comments made in Greece.

Neuville faced the brunt of the road sweeping having been first to tackle the stage.

Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

«Really challenging, to be honest, the grip is basically zero. It is like driving on ice at the beginning. We know what our target is» said Neuville, who could also mathematically sew up the title in Chile.

Officials red-flagged the stage shortly after Ogier had reached the stage end meaning the rest of the field had to navigate through the test in road mode, with Neuville’s time given as a notional time. However, that is subject to being revised after the second pass of the stage this afternoon.

The crews managed to pass through stage two (Rere 13.34km) without interruption and it was Evans who managed to tame the tricky loose gravel the best.

The Welshman was 2.3s faster than team-mates Rovanpera and Rally1 rookie Pajari to move to second overall, 6.6s behind rally leader Ogier.

Ogier ensured it was Toyota lockout at the top of the timesheets in fourth, 3.9s slower than Evans. The eight-time world champion once again refused to offer much in terms of comments at the stage-end.

Tanak seemingly followed Ogier’s stage-end comment protest although the Estonian was the quickest of the Hyundais, 4.1s shy of the pace, but ahead of the M-Sport duo of Fourmaux and Munster.

Lappi struggled to make the most of his advantageous road position with the Finn 6.6s adrift. He was however faster than Neuville, who felt the cleaning effect was much worse than the previous test.

M-Sport’s Martins Sesks was a tenth slower than Neuville in his non-hybrid powered Puma having elected to take a steady approach to his third Rally1 start.

The final stage of the morning loop (San Rosendo, 23.32km) provided the first moment of drama for the championship contenders.

Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Rally leader Ogier was pushing hard on the stage but ran wide at a fast right-hander and clipped a bank with the left rear of his GR Yaris, which knocked a tyre off the rim. Ogier dropped 1m48.5s after being forced to pull over and change a wheel.

This handed the rally lead to Evans, who came through the stage posting the second fastest time. Rovanpera knicked the stage win by a tenth of a second but the Finn admitted he was struggling on a slippery road surface.

«Really bad to be honest, I don’t feel comfortable at all on these roads. I was expecting it a bit, but when it is dry like this it does not fit my usual driving style. I am fighting the car and my driving a lot,» said Rovanpera.

M-Sport’s Munster impressed to post a third fastest time ahead of Fourmaux, Pajari, Tanak and Neuville.

The stage didn’t appear to clean in the traditional way as more rocks were dragged onto the surface after every pass. The challenging conditions led to Lappi running wide and clipping a bank while Sesks fared even worse.

Sesks drifted well wide at a right-hander into a bank which caused a double puncture. Carrying only one spare wheel, Sesks and co-driver Renars Francis opted to change the front left and limped to the finish with the rear left deflated, costing them more than five minutes.

Sesks pulled over to let WRC2 title rivals Oliver Solberg and Yohan Rossel through. The pair trailed early WRC2 leader Nikolay Gryazin ahead of the afternoon loop.

Ott Tänak says it’s “really difficult to know how to act” in interviews following the FIA’s sanctions for comments made by World Rally Championship rival Sebastian Ogier and Formula 1’s Max Verstappen.

The Hyundai driver has raised concerns after the FIA handed Ogier a €30,000 suspended fine for comments the Toyota driver directed at officials regarding hanging dust at the end of the opening stage of Acropolis Rally Greece, earlier this month.

Ogier’s incident preceded a move by the FIA to clamp down on F1 drivers swearing in official press conferences, resulting in three-time world champion Verstappen being issued with a public service order for swearing at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen then later staged a protest by offering short answers in the post-qualifying press conference.

Speaking in a stage-end interview after Thursday’s Rally Chile shakedown, Tanak was asked what he was excited about looking ahead to the event, which was met with a cryptic “let’s see how the rally will be. It is quite interesting times at the moment, not sure how much I can say but I’m living the dream and enjoying the cars.”

When asked to later explain his comments, he added: “I meant it is strange times in motorsport generally where you need to be very careful what you say and how you express your emotions they are not really allowed for the moment.

Pressed on if he is concerned by the direction that is being taken by the FIA with driver interviews, he said: “Yeah, in rallying with Seb and in Formula 1 as well and with all these things coming together it seems we are really on the radar at the moment, so let’s see where it goes from here.

“It is difficult to say at the moment what is the target, probably the promoter should take us to one side and really explain to us what they expecting, but for the moment to give stage end interviews without any emotion, it is really difficult to know how to act. It is an interesting time.”

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

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Looking ahead to the rally, Tanak is among the favourites for success on Chile’s gravel roads having won the previous two editions.

The Estonian was victorious in 2019 driving for Toyota before winning last year’s battle on the abrasive gravel roads for M-Sport-Ford.

Tanak remains firmly in the title fight albeit 34 points adrift of team-mate Thierry Neuville while his Hyundai team is leading the constructors’ championship by 35 points from Toyota.

“We need to fight for the points and in the manufacturers’ championship it is also tight and obviously Toyota is pushing very hard so it is not really possible to give many points away,” he added.

“We still need to at least try to match them and try to outscore them. It is still a long way to go and many points on the table.

“It is a rally I like a lot it has a very nice profile and it is a pure performance event. It will be about how we get ourselves working as we have been struggling on these kinds of surface with the car, so hopefully we find a bit better balance for this one.”