Warren Nel

Onto the second full day of this event and the crews faced 109km’s over six stages in Germany and Austria. Could Elfyn or Thierry pass Kalle for the lead, even though the Finn had a 36.4 second lead?

First up then was SS9 Schärdinger Innviertel 1 – 15.72 km and Elfyn showed he was on the pace winning the stage from Thierry and Kalle. Meanwhile in WRC2 Nicolas was fastest from Nikolay and Erik. Emil remained in charge of the category leading Erik and Nicolas. However, Nikolay was climbing up the leader board passing Kajetan for fourth overall.

Into SS10 Mühltal 1 – 27.15 km and Thierry was fastest from Elfyn this time with Seb third. There was drama though for rally leader Kalle who slid off the road and lost 24 seconds of his lead. WRC2 leaders Emil and Reeta were fastest from Nicolas and Nikolay. The pace of Nicolas brought him ahead of Erik and into second overall in the category. Mind you there was only three tenths of a second between them, meaning the fight was still on for second place.

The final stage of the morning loop SS11 Knaus Tabbert Bayerischer Wald 1 – 11.88 km and Teemu set the early pace before Thierry came through to set the fastest time from his teammate and Seb was third. However, this stage saw the retirement of Elfyn and Scott who slid wide and hit a garage on the left-hand side of the stage. The damage was too much for them to continue. Kalle was made aware that his teammate was out, and he made the decision to just drive through safely given that his closest rival was now out. In WRC2 Nicolas was fastest from Emil and Erik and the top three remained unchanged.

Next up after the service break was SS12 Schärdinger Innviertel 2 – 15.72 km and Seb was fastest from Thierry and Ott. Kalle was controlling his pace setting and set the same time in the stage as his Japanese teammate, going equal fourth fastest. In WRC2 Gus went fastest from Nikolay and Nicolas. Emil continued to lead the category from Nicolas, with the gap between them reduced slightly to under 13 seconds.

The penultimate stage of the day, SS13 Mühltal 2 – 27.15 km and Seb was fastest again from Ott and Thierry. Kalle remained off the pace as he continued to take things easy, and Thierry now had a lead of 26.7 seconds. Emil set the pace in WRC2 going fastest from Gus and Erik. The Finn continued to lead the category with an increased lead of almost 21 seconds.

Now to the final stage then which started in semi-light and ended in darkness with the full moon shining over the landscape. Thierry set the early pace but then Kalle came through and was fastest by half a second and Takamoto was third. Emil was fastest from Gus and Erik in WRC2.

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

 

Classification after Day Two

1	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	2:18:34.5
2	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+26.2
3	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+1:49.1
4	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:20.2
5	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:47.9
6	T. Suninen	M. Markkula	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+2:58.8
7	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+3:52.2

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Another tricky day, similar to yesterday with tough conditions out there. We couldn’t expect such a turnaround in the early morning, but both Kalle and Elfyn made mistakes while we were very consistent throughout the whole day. This gave us the lead by mid-day service and then an even bigger margin this evening. I wouldn’t say the gap is comfortable, because anything can happen, but we should be able to manage it tomorrow. We are as confident as we can be we hope to have a clean run, no surprises, and that it is a bit easier than the past couple of days.”

Teemu Suninen

“Today in Central European Rally was another challenging one. I felt that the rally was quite different compared to yesterday; the conditions of all the roads changed. In the morning loop, we had good pace, but in the afternoon, we went for slicks. The grip level was a lot better, but I couldn’t really use it and I was a bit cautious in some sections. Generally, it has been a good one, and it is great to see Thierry leading the rally. I wish him the best of luck for tomorrow and hope to show even more improvements myself.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It was a big challenge today. I had a moment myself in the second stage: it surprised me a bit just how slippery it was under braking, and luckily there was some space to be able to save it and come back on the road. It was a real pity then when Elfyn went off; I found out just before we started the stage and then the plan changed because now it was just about finishing the rally with some decent points. In these extremely difficult conditions, we just tried to cut out the risk and be safe, so we were a bit slower on some stages. It was not so enjoyable like this, but I did have a better feeling in the last stage which hopefully we can take into tomorrow. But we just have to try and focus on bringing it home.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Today the roads were different to yesterday, but the conditions were pretty similar for us, still running in the middle of the pack. This morning it was still tricky with mud on the road, so I tried to keep it on the safe side, and we had an OK morning loop. Then in the afternoon we had better conditions, it was a bit drier, and we could finally enjoy some better grip and pace and have more fun in the car. So, there are some positives to take from today. There is too much of a gap around us now to really target anything for tomorrow and the conditions might still be tricky in the morning, but we’ll try to have a decent pace until the end.”

Elfyn Evans

“The conditions were quite difficult out there again this morning, but things seemed to be working quite well for us behind the wheel. Unfortunately, in the final stage of the loop I was just caught out by a particularly slippery right-hander. The car seemed to slow down initially quite well on the brakes, but when I turned in, the grip was much lower than I had expected, and I just locked the inside front wheel. Once that pushed us wide, the road was so narrow that there was nowhere to go really. We picked up a bit too much damage to be able to continue, but the team has managed to repair the car so we can be back out there tomorrow. I’m just disappointed for the team and for ourselves.”

Sunday

The final day then waits for the crews and perhaps Kalle and Jonne’s second championship title. With 67km’s over four stages and no service break it will be important to get through cleanly. Thierry is in a good position to take victory, whilst Elfyn’s remaining title hopes remain with taking maximum points in the power stage and with Kalle not actually finishing the rally.

The first full day of this unique event saw the crews tackle six stages and a total of 133km’s. The first two stages were run on Thursday evening and saw Thierry hold the lead from Ott, with Seb in third.

Friday would see Kalle open the road with his championship challenger Elfyn being second into the stages.

First up was SS3 Vlachovo Březí 1 – 13.66 km and Kalle was fastest from EP and Elfyn. Both Toyota crews were on the move up the leader board the Finn moving into second overall and Elfyn into fourth. In WRC2, Emil was fastest in the stage from Andreas and Nicolas. Andreas was leading the category from Emil whose fastest time saw him jump nine positions and Nicolas also moving up into third.

Next up was SS4 Zvotoky 1 – 23.81 km and Kalle made it two in a row with EP again second and Elfyn again third. Kalle now moved into the lead deposing Thierry who could only manage a time a full 19.5 seconds slower than the Finn and suddenly the championship leader had a huge lead. EP moved up to third place, just 1.5 seconds from his teammate. In WRC2 Nikolay was fastest from Emil and Alejando. Emil moved into the lead of the category, Erik Cais into second and Nicolas third. Andreas fell from the lead after going wide and hitting some trees, damaging his suspension and the front of his Skoda.

The final stage before the tyre fitting zone, SS5 Šumavské Hoštice 1 – 23.43 km and Kalle was fastest again from Elfyn and Thierry. Kalle was building a lead, now almost 30 seconds over his teammate. Elfyn was now in second place having passed Thierry. In WRC2 Nikolay was fastest again from Gus this time and Emil third fastest. The Finn remained in the lead of the category from Erik and Kajetan who’d just moved up into third. EP crashed out of the stage, hitting a tree. There were issues with spectators along the section of the stage where the Finn crashed out.

After the break and SS6 Vlachovo Březí 2 – 13.66 km followed the tyre fitting zone. Elfyn set the pace from Thierry and Kalle. The stage was cancelled after Seb completed the stage though due to issues with spectators in unsafe places. The WRC2 crew were given notional times as they were not able to complete the stage at pace.

Into SS7 Zvotoky 2 – 23.81 km and the top three again was Kalle from Thierry and Elfyn. The Finn continued to pull away and now had a lead over Elfyn of 37 seconds. Meanwhile Thierry was just three tenths behind the Welshman. In WRC2 Nicolas was fastest from Nikolay and Erik.

The final stage then of the day, SS8 Šumavské Hoštice 2 – 23.43 km and Thierry was fastest from Kalle and Elfyn. The Belgian moved into second place pushing Elfyn down to third. Seb was also on the move, gaining two places and into sixth overall. Nikolay was fastest again in WRC2 from Emil and Erik. The Finn continued to lead the category, holding a almost 15 second lead over Erik.

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	1:13:05.1
2	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+36.4
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+47.2
4	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+1:30.4
5	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:26.8
6	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:35.9
7	T. Suninen	M. Markkula	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+2:39.1
8	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+2:59.1

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“The conditions today were super tough and especially in the first two stages this morning. There was a lot of rain, a lot of standing water and even though we were the first car, there was already quite a bit of dirt on the road for us. It was a big challenge, but we still did some really good times. In the afternoon, the conditions were more equal in terms of the starting place, because we also had lots of mud. We took the pace down a bit just to be safe, but still created a bit more gap to the others on the middle stage, so we can be happy. Tomorrow we’re going to be the last Rally1 car on the road and if it’s wet again, that will be a huge challenge. We just need to keep focused and avoid mistakes.”

Elfyn Evans

“There was quite a lot of rain overnight and into the morning, so we faced some pretty difficult, full wet conditions. There was quite a lot of mud being dragged out too, so it was not easy to judge the different grip levels. The second pass this afternoon was tough as well with a lot of mud and quite changeable conditions. It started to dry out a bit which almost made it more difficult with the tyres starting to move around, and then a bit of drizzle again for the last stage. Our position tonight is not what we really hoped for, but Kalle has done an incredible job today and we definitely couldn’t match his speed. The gap is pretty big, but we’ll continue to do the best we can. In a rally like this, anything can happen to anyone, so we have to keep going.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It has not been the day that we wanted. It all went wrong for us very quickly this morning. In the heat of the moment, I probably overreacted a bit and I’m sorry for blaming the tyre. In the end, the problem was that the wheel rim was broken, and this is why the air escaped from the tyre. In a very narrow section in the mud, it looks as though there was a rock that we could not see. In these conditions you just have to follow the line and I could not do anything. I think a lot of people damaged their wheels, but unfortunately for us the air escaped. That was a tough thing to take to start the day. After that we tried to keep it consistent and didn’t take maximum risk. I have not been feeling 100 per cent with some illness, and it was difficult anyway to do the best times with our road position. We just tried to bring the car back in one piece and aim to do better tomorrow.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“It was a challenging day out there. The road conditions weren’t really good for us, we were constantly losing a little bit of time to Kalle who had the advantage of the cleanest roads of the day. We kept on fighting, did what we could with the package we had, and, in the end, I think second place is not too bad. It was muddier than we were expecting and went too stiff with the set-up this morning; we went too aggressive and had to stick with it for the rest of the day. Tomorrow will be another discovery day for us – everything is completely new, and we hope the conditions will be more stable. We’re going to do some changes overnight which will hopefully benefit us well.”

Teemu Suninen

“I must say the day was super tricky. It rained quite a lot and got incredibly slippery in the places where we were able to cut. I haven’t driven in conditions like this with the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid so there was a lot of adjusting, but I was quite happy with the car – especially this afternoon, so it is getting better. I think the roads were getting slower car by car, but that’s part of the game and now we have a big job to do tomorrow. The gap is now three seconds to Ogier so let’s see how he will drive, but I believe it is better to focus on ourselves to try to take steps forward. I expect tomorrow’s stages to be simpler with a slightly better flow, but as today showed it is going to be difficult anyway.”

Esapekka Lappi

“This is one of the biggest disappointments of the season for me. Today I felt very confident – this was the best day on tarmac with this car ever. I had new brakes which gave me a much better feeling, which really helped in these dirty conditions. I was doing good times; they were coming naturally to me; I didn’t have to force it. My gravel crew did a great job predicting exactly where we would and wouldn’t find mud, so I was able to really commit in certain places. Unfortunately, on SS5, my best guess is we were too close to the edge of the road and the right rear was on some mud, and under braking we lost the rear immediately. With the trees, there was nowhere to run wide, and it was game over.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“In the morning it was quite a big struggle and managed to improve a bit. The lever broke into two places (gear lever) which caused some problems.”

Summary

Well, what a crazy first day on the stages. The rain came and really gave Kalle a chance to grab and take the lead. He and Jonne took the opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. They deserve to hold the lead given this.

 

Saturday sees the crews tackle 109km’s over six stages. Can Elfyn and Thierry fight back and close the gap to the Finnish world champions? We shall see.

The championship moves to a new round held on the roads of Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. There are 18 stages run from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon. Thursday and Friday see the crews tackle the stages in the Czech Republic before heading to the stages in Austria and Germany.

 

Kalle and Elfyn with their co-drivers, Jonne and Scott continue to battle for this season’s world championship and with the points gap between the two crews stands at 31 points. If Elfyn and Scott are to take the champion fight to the final round in Japan, then they will need to outscore their Finnish teammates in this rally. Of course, the championship leaders will open the road throughout the opening stages. Second on the road for Elfyn and Scott will be the best possible position to be given that the roads are likely to get quite messy as the cars complete the stages.

 

After shakedown on Wednesday, Thursday afternoon will see two Super Special Stages: SSS1 Velká Chuchle (2.55km) and SSS2 Circuit of Klatovy (8.92km).

Friday begins in the German ‘Messepark Passau’ service park, before heading back to Czech Republic for SS3 Vlachovo Březí 1 (13.66km).

Crews head to the first German stage of the rally on Saturday morning, SS9 Schärdinger Innviertel 1, 15.72km of rural roads.

The final stage of the rally is SS18 Powerstage Passauer Land 2 (16.37km), wrapping up Sunday’s 67.24km competitive distance.

Let’s hear from the drivers ahead of this round.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“The manufacturers’ championship is a great achievement for the whole team, and now we will be pushing hard to battle for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles in these last events of the season. When the fight is between team-mates it’s always quite friendly and fair with the same cars, so it should be a good one. It’s nice to be back on asphalt with a rally car; in our test I was feeling comfortable in the car straight away and hopefully it will be the same in the rally. I’m quite confident that it can be a good event for us: this type of asphalt rally normally suits me best and I have had some good results on these kinds of roads.”

Elfyn Evans

“With two rounds to go, there’s still quite a big gap to Kalle in front of us in the championship but it’s not over yet, and we know how quickly things can change in this game. We’ll be trying everything we can to have two strong rallies to end the season and we’ll try to put the pressure on. This is going to be a new rally for everybody and with stages in three different countries, we need to try and have a setup that can work everywhere. With any new rally, it’s difficult to gauge from videos alone just what the stages will be like, but the weather is sure to play a massive part in how dirty the roads get and how much grip will be available.”

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m really happy that the team are manufacturers’ champions again; it’s very well deserved after a great job this season. Even though it’s hard to know what to expect for this rally, I’m always excited to go into a new challenge. It’s also close to home for me nowadays, and I’m sure there will be a lot of rally fans there watching and supporting us. I’m not sure that my starting position will be optimal, but it will probably depend on the weather: if it’s dry we can probably fight for the top places, and if it’s wet it might be more tricky for us after a few cars have been through the stages. But I always start every rally aiming as high as possible and it should be fun.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“It’s the new event on the calendar and it’s always exciting when you get the chance to discover new roads. It is a tarmac event; I always like to drive on tarmac, so I am looking forward to it. It’s going to be a long event between Passau, Prague and also with stages in Austria. It has the furthest liaison distance of the calendar so far, so it will be long distances to travel between stages but I’m sure it’s going to be exciting. Usually, we get some footage from the organiser which shows the stages, so we can try to have a look and see what we have to prepare for, especially ahead of the pre-event test – which is going to be crucial on a rally where you could have three different days with three different types of road. We need to be well prepared and that’s the main thing you can do. Like every other rally, the goal is victory.”

Esapekka Lappi

“It’s an interesting concept that I like a lot; it’s the first time we have seen this happen in the top-flight of rally. Friday is going to be demanding as I know what the Czech roads are like from past experiences. I do not know Austria so much, but Germany we have experience on thanks to Rallye Deutschland. It’s the time of year where there’s going to be a lot of rain, as well as leaves from the trees, so it will be a challenge managing the different natural elements. I strongly believe that there will be three different sets of characteristics across the weekend, as it’s going to be three different countries. I don’t think we have had these kinds of changes on tarmac before, so it will be a unique event to prepare for. The goal is to push, if we do that then I am sure the end result will be good.”

Teemu Suninen

“Central European Rally will be really demanding. It’s going to be in three different countries so we can expect to have very different types of roads, different tarmac and a lot of changes, so it will be a big challenge for me – especially when it will be my first rally with the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid at a tarmac round. We had a really good test in Austria and got some good experience in the car, but Central European Rally is going to be a lot later in the year, making it the most difficult tarmac rally on the calendar. The conditions will be a lot trickier and that’s something new we are facing in the rally. It starts to become autumn time with colder conditions, trees starting to lose leaves, meaning dirt on the tarmac. The goal is to bring the car home and learn as much as we can from our time on the stages. The fact that Hyundai want to see my pace on the tarmac means a lot, so I want to end the weekend with a good result for the whole team.”

Emil Lindholm – (WRC2)

“This is the second event in a row that is completely new to me, and since it’s taking place across three countries it requires us to think carefully on car set up on different stages. The stages will differ much more than in other rallies because of the change in countries, and the October weather could offer some surprises. In testing, the car has been feeling great so I’m capitalising on that and aim for a podium finish.”

Fabrizio Zaldivar – (WRC2)

“Coming off the back of a successful rally in Chile, we are confident that our good performance will continue. It will be our first tarmac rally of the year in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 as part of WRC2 and it is a very different style of event. The changes of surface from stage to stage will mean we have to have precise pace notes, as we want to maximise pace without putting a foot wrong. Our goal is to continue our momentum from Chile and try to score another top five result.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“It’s been a while since we were on tarmac, and this event will be a new one in the calendar. It’s going to be a great challenge for us, and our clear aim is to take the maximum from these last two events.

“It is very hard to expect anything from this rally as everything is going to be new and I’m pretty sure that the weather will play a major role as well – so we really need to be on it to hit all the targets.

“Chile was the last event on gravel this season and we were able to celebrate success together with the team which felt good. But the job is not done yet – we have two more to go, and we will keep pushing.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“I’m happy to do my first rally with Benjamin. After the accident in Chile, I need to get some confidence back and have a clean rally. I want to enjoy the driving in Germany for sure.

“It’s been a nice feeling to be back on Tarmac in the Puma during the test this week so I’m looking forward to seeing what the event brings.”

Grégoire Munster

“The main thing we were learning in Chile is the hybrid features in the car; when to use it and in which situations. We were also understanding the aero and also getting used to the road position, as we start earlier on the road than in the Rally2. I’m not sure I will be able to carry that experience onto this Tarmac event, because the road position will be different again.

“Everything feels different on Tarmac because you have more traction, but on the test we tried to get used to the car on the surface and tried to do some different things with the set-up. The car obviously has a great base and gives you a lot of confidence to start with, but it’s helpful to get some more ideas in case the conditions change on the rally, then we know what direction we can go in with the set-up.”

Adrien Fourmaux – WRC2

“It’s a new event for everyone so it’s a bit of a zero-point, which is a positive. We have to keep challenging and developing our pacenotes throughout the weekend. It’s nice to have a new tarmac WRC event, covering three countries, and the roads look to be very different each day.

“It’s nice to be back on tarmac after so many gravel events, and we completed a preparation rally in Austria this weekend to get ready for Central Europe – fine-tuning the set-up and learning as much as we can which should help us this weekend.”

Summary

Well, we are set for a fight on the tarmac roads in the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria! How the crews deal with the conditions on the stages will be significant and the information from the safety crews will be also very important.

If you are following the stages live the first thing to mention is that shakedown is a day earlier on Wednesday, not Thursday and the first stages are on Thursday afternoon.

Predictions as always are hard to make, but the crews with the best combination of experience and best road position will likely fight over victory.

 

The final day then with 54km’s over four stages. Could Ott and Martin hold on to take victory and how would the battle for the podium between Teemu, Thierry and Elfyn go?

Just like Saturday, Alberto Heller would open the road for the three stages. That is because the power stage start list is always changed and sees the WRC2 crews head in first before the top crews start.

First up was SS13 Las Pataguas 1 – 13.20 km and Thierry was fastest from Teemu and Elfyn. Thierry reduced the gap to his teammate and also increased the gap over Elfyn. However, Teemu was certainly driving brilliantly, holding a 9.1 second lead over Thierry. In WRC2 Gus was fastest from Emil and Yohan. The Brit remained in second place behind Oliver with Sami holding third place.

Into SS14 El Poñen 1 – 13.86 km and Thierry was fastest again from Teemu and Ott. The gap between the two Hyundai teammates fell again to 6.7 seconds. Ott remained firmly in charge with a 51.6 second lead. Elfyn was doing what he could to reduce the gap to the podium, but with the better road position the two Hyundai crews had meant they were both pulling away from the Welshman. In WRC2, Oliver was fastest from Sami and Gus and the young Swede remained firmly in charge of the category.

After the service break the rerun of SS15 Las Pataguas 2 – 13.20 km saw Thierry fastest from Elfyn and Takamoto. Unfortunately, Teemu and Markko crashed out of the stage after hitting a tree root on the edge of the road. This impact broke his suspension and steering on the front right causing the car to exit off the road on the left side. A big shame for the Finnish crew after a superb drive. In WRC2 Nikolay was fastest from Gus and Oliver who continued to hold a 22.8 second lead.

The final stage then, SS16 El Poñen 2[Power Stage] – 13.86 km and Kalle took the stage win from Elfyn who had set the benchmark. Thierry was third, Ott fourth and Takamoto fifth. It was a brilliant and well-deserved victory for Ott and Martin in their M-Sport Ford Puma, their 19^th victory as well moving them into the WRC legends level. In WRC2, Oliver and Elliott took victory in their final points scoring rally of the year winning from Gus and Sami.

Let’s check out the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Rally Chile

1	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	3:06:38.1
2	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+42.1
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+1:06.9
4	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:11.0
5	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+4:41.5
6	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Škoda Fabia RS	+8:18.5
7	G. Greensmith	J. Andersson	Škoda Fabia RS	+8:44.3
8	S. Pajari	E. Mälkönen	Škoda Fabia RS	+9:20.6
9	Y. Rossel	A. Dunand	Citroën C3	+9:53.9
10	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+10:08.2

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“It’s definitely to have a positive outcome, since a long, long altogether and almost a perfect weekend. It was very different what we had to do, not too much about pure performance, a lot about the management to get through the loops, it was a bit different challenge.”

Alberto Heller

“It was amazing, a really nice event for Chile, all the people in the stages, it was fantastic. To drive one of these cars is an amazing experience. Saturday and Sunday I opened the road, so more learning for me. I enjoyed and reached all more goals. My target was to return the car in the same shape. I hope to return and drive some more events next year.”

Grégoire Munster

“If you take everything into account, the pacenotes, the tyre delamination, the small off from my side, then today the brakes it was not easy. Perhaps change the car number for the Central Europe, but in general happened, happened for a reason. Good learning from our side, all the issues we had we managed to solve, that’s the main goal. One of the biggest things I leant was opening the road, then all the power has to transform to traction is so difficult, so demanding for the tyres. Coming from WRC2 the first thing is the hybrid to get to know and when to use it, how much you can apply and not to lose too much time with the traction. Then there is the aero you can use it in the short corner, but you may not have the grip, it depends if the tyre will accept this.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“It has been a tough weekend for us. Unfortunately, we had two cars out, and I feel sorry for both of them – especially Teemu, who was having a great event. We all know how cruel rallying can be, and we saw it at the previous event in Greece. We had a job to do this weekend, and we did our best despite our issues. We kept fighting and tried to keep our position and progress to second, and now we’ve scored good points. It’s a shame the manufacturers’ championship is over, but it is nice to be back on the podium in second place. We’re happy with that.”

Teemu Suninen

“I would like to say a big thank you to the team. It was a great rally and a nice battle with Thierry, but unfortunately our hard work came to an end because of a very small mistake. I was just a few centimetres too tight with my line and hit a tree stump, which was game over. Thankfully we are unhurt. I’m very sorry to the entire team that we were unable to bring home the podium for them this weekend. We hope to be able to put that right in a few weeks at Central European Rally.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“Overall, the weekend was perhaps not what we hoped for, and I think there was potential for more. We didn’t quite get it all right this time around even though we had some good speed at times. But I think we can be relatively happy with our end result of a podium. The best news is that the team has clinched the manufacturers’ title. It’s an honour to be a part of the team and it’s great to reward everybody for all their hard work. In the drivers’ championship we probably needed to close a bit more on Kalle this weekend than we did, but at least the fight is still alive.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It feels good to have helped the team secure the manufacturers’ title. To confirm it here in Chile with two rounds to go is a great achievement and it feels really nice. This was not the easiest weekend for us, as we were a bit handicapped with the starting position on Friday and didn’t make the best decisions on Saturday. Today it was still tricky with quite a lot of road cleaning even on the second pass. But we had a good plan to save the tyres and push hard on the Power Stage. The quick time came, showing we had the speed, and it was good to get those points.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It has been a very demanding weekend, but I want to say a big congratulations to everyone in the team for winning the manufacturers’ title. There are so many people doing such great work during the season: a huge thanks to all of them because we are always happy to drive such a strong and fast car. The stages here in Chile this weekend were, nice but very difficult. I felt quite good on Friday afternoon but then on Saturday we were struggling a lot with the aggressive surface. It wasn’t easy but we got an idea of how to improve for the future, so it was good experience.”

 

WRC2 Winner

Oliver Solberg

“What a rally, from the moment we met thousands and thousands of fans at the ceremonial start on Thursday night right up until the end of the last stage, this has been such a special event. A big thank you to Toksport who have been so great to work with this year. These guys have worked so hard to give us the best car and I am so grateful.

“The roads here are just fantastic and to win here is a great result – the perfect result to close out our WRC2 campaign. Of course, it would have been good to take the title, but I can’t be too sad with the way our year has gone.

“More than anything, I wanted to show our speed this year and I think we’ve done that. We’ve won stages and rallies and me and Elliott can be proud for what we’ve done.”

Rally Chile was different. Reflecting on his South American debut, Oliver said he needed a different strategy on the gravel roads sitting just inland from the Pacific.

“When we could see how abrasive the roads were, we knew we had to be clever for this one,” he said.

“We took a different strategy. Through yesterday (Saturday) we were trying to be careful and to really look after the tyres. I wasn’t sliding the car so much, braking more progressive and just thinking all of the time to keep the car as straight as possible.

“I wanted to be in a good place for the final stage of the day – we knew this one was the most tricky for the tyres. It was so hard at times, when you get to the end of stage and you can see the seconds are going in the wrong direction, but I made a plan and I stuck to it.”

“The plan worked. I was quite happy for that. Like I said, when you were watching the other guys taking time, it was frustrating – but the priority was to save the tyres and play a longer game. We did that.

“This is a good way to end the year: a WRC2 win, and another top-six finish overall on a WRC round. That’s nice. Very nice.”

 

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 11

1	K. Rovanperä	217
2	E. Evans	186
3	T. Neuville	155
4	O. Tänak	146
5	S. Ogier	99
6	E. Lappi	98
7	T. Katsuta	77
8	D. Sordo	63
9	T. Suninen	34

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 11

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	466
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	360
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	247

 

Summary

Well, what a great return to the top step for the 2019 world champions. Ott and Martin made a great result of these demanding stages in Chile. They completely deserved this result, and it is refreshing to see another team take victory as well. Speaks volumes for the effort of the entire M-Sport team.

Elsewhere it was good to see Elfyn and Scott finish ahead of their rivals for this year’s championship. They still have a good chance to take it, but we shall have to wait and see who prevails in the final two rounds.

 

Let’s wait and see how things pan out. The next round is the Central European Rally over the final weekend of October from the 26^th to 29^th.

The second day of competitive action then and 150km’s over six stages. Opening the road would be Alberto Heller in his Puma Rally1.

Into SS7 Chivilingo 1 – 27.19 km and Kalle was fastest from Ott and Elfyn. The Welshman regained second overall, now 13.8 seconds behind Ott, and Teemu was now 8 tenths of a second behind Elfyn. Further back Kalle passed Thierry for fourth overall, the Belgian now 4.7 behind the championship leader. In WRC2 it was a good stage for Oliver despite a spin in the stage as he was fastest from Yohan and Jorge. Former category leader Sami had an issue with the dust though and was fourteenth fastest, 39.6 down on the Swede who now led the category from the Finn, a healthy 26.3 ahead. Also on the move was Gus who passed Nikolay.

Next up was SS8 Rio Lia 1 – 21.09 km and Ott took this one from Elfyn by 6.8 seconds and Thierry a further 6.8 behind. Teemu was now 11.5 behind Elfyn in their fight over second place. There was a change though between Thierry and Kalle, with the Belgian passing Kalle again back into fourth. In WRC2, Yohan was fastest from Gus and Emil. The top two overall were fifth and seventh in this one, Oliver pulling away a little from Sami.

The last stage before service, SS9 Maria de las Cruces 1 – 28.72 km and there was huge drama in this one. Where do I even start with this? The following crews all had rear tyre failures, Elfyn, Takamoto, Kalle and Alberto leading to huge time losses for them. Elfyn dropped two positions to fourth place. The Toyota team made a mistake in going with soft tyres leading to their cars dropping back. Teemu was now back into second place and Thierry up now and into third. It was such a dramatic stage that two WRC2 cars placed fourth and fifth fastest, with Nikolay and Yohan respectively taking those positions. Gus was third fastest in the category. Top three remained Oliver, Sami and Gus.

After lunch time and the service break next up was SS10 Chivilingo 2 – 27.19 km. Kalle was fastest from Elfyn and Thierry. The Welshman took a couple of seconds from the third placed Belgian. In WRC2 Gus was fastest from Sami and Yohan. The Frenchman was having a much better day compared to Friday. Oliver was only eighth fastest and dropped out of the lead, now 2.5 seconds behind new leader Sami.

Next up was SS11 Rio Lia 2 – 21.09 km and Ott was quickest from Teemu and Elfyn. Thierry remained in third overall behind Teemu and Ott, but Elfyn had closed the gap a little to the Belgian. Yohan was fastest in WRC2 from Gus and Kajetan. Sami remained in the lead from Oliver and Gus whilst Yohan had now moved into fourth in the category as Emil and Nikolay dropped back.

The final stage then of the day then, SS12 Maria de las Cruces 2 – 28.72 km and would this stage deliver the huge drama that it did earlier in the day? Well, there was not the drama as earlier. Ott emerged fastest from Thierry and Elfyn. The gap grew five seconds between Elfyn and Thierry. It was all change in WRC2 though. The top three fastest were Oliver, Gus and Kajetan. Meanwhile Oliver took the lead from Sami who dropped from first place to third, with Gus moving into second.

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	2:36:16.2
2	T. Suninen	M. Markkula	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+58.3
3	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+1:12.2
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+1:22.9
5	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:02.2
6	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+4:07.2

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“Ah, we definitely had a good tyre choice, well not good, just better than the other guys. Hyundai was also quite good and covered for all the situations. Elfyn, Takamoto and Kalle, they were quite brave. Elfyn was still quite close to get it done, but just missed by ten kilometres. The tyre choice was just guesswork. We’d never done these stages and did not know how the stages would evolve.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Teemu Suninen

“It was a nice battle today; I think it was all about keeping the mind calm and focusing on all the different things and managing the tyres. We saw clearly if you attacked on the first stint you were losing time. Overall, I think it was a good day from us, but it was really tricky. The road surface is changing junction to junction, corner to corner, requiring constant management. In some sections you really had to use the tyres, or you would have been so much slower, which was intense. It would be great to finish second tomorrow; I think it would prove something from my side, but there is still one long day to go. It only counts afterwards when we finish the rally and the results come in, so we still have to keep focused.”

Thierry Neuville

“We were trying to do the job as best as we could today, but I think I did a little bit too much tyre management in the middle stage of the second loop. We got a little bit closer to second place, which was the target, but it was not a problem-free afternoon. We lost the hybrid between the first and second stage of the afternoon, and on the last one I lost all power and had to do a reset, so we were late leaving the start line. Unfortunately, that lost us a few seconds, but it is what it is. Tomorrow is going to be another challenge with two shorter stages, but we’re going to do the maximum we can. It is not going to be easy, as there is a high risk of fog, which could turn around the whole classification if it is really impactful.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“This morning we knew that tyre wear might be high, but we weren’t anticipating it to be quite as high as it was. The grip levels and temperatures are relatively low here, but the roads today were extremely hard and aggressive for the tyres. It was just a pity that we couldn’t see out the final five kilometres of the morning loop: it seems I went too quickly at the beginning of the stage even if it didn’t feel that way, and we dropped a lot of time. At least we could claw some back this afternoon and there’s still an opportunity to fight for the podium. Thierry still has a decent gap with not so many kilometres to come, but we will of course try our best.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Clearly, we were a bit too optimistic to take soft tyres this morning. Already at the end of the first stage it was quite clear that the tyre wear was much more than we had expected. In the afternoon it was still really difficult to manage even with the hard tyres on the car, but they were still in quite good condition for the last stage, where we lost some time in the dust behind another car. At least for the drivers’ championship it’s good for us to be only one place behind Elfyn at the moment, and we’ll see what we can do in the Power Stage tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today’s stages were totally different to yesterday and the surface was very, very abrasive. Already in the first kilometres of the first stage, I could feel so much grip and at this point I knew that I needed to save the tyres. The afternoon was easier for the tyre choice, but wear was still very high, and we had an issue with one tyre in the second stage. We lost a lot of time today, so now I just want to finish the rally with a good feeling, and I will of course try to push for some extra points on the Power Stage.”

Sunday

Well, with 54km’s over four stages on the final day, what would the final day hold for the teams and crews? The four stages are completely new to the crews. Can Ott and Martin hold on to take a popular victory for M-Sport, or will there be further drama out there? Can Elfyn and Scott pass Thierry and Martijn and take third place?

In WRC2 can Oliver and Elliott hold on for victory or will be see more drama and the top positions change again?

The first full day of action saw the crews tackle 112km’s over six stages. As championship leader, Kalle would open the road. What could the Finn do on the first day to stay close to those who would have an advantage further down the start list?

First up was SS1 Pulperia 1 – 19.77 km and Ott set the early pace from Teemu and Elfyn making a great start despite being second on the road. Just 4.9 seconds covered the top three. There was drama for Esapekka though. The Finn would roll out of the stage and that would be the end of his event as well. Meanwhile his teammates were doing better giving the Hyundai team something to cheer for. It was big crash for EP, but he and Janne were fine. In the WRC2 category the top three was Oliver, Sami and Nikolay, again the top three covered by just a little under 5 seconds.

Time for SS2 Rere 1 – 13.34 km and Elfyn continued his great start winning the stage from Kalle and Pierre-Louis. The Welshman jumped two places and into the lead, with Teemu now second, just a tenth from his former teammate and Ott dropped down to third, but just 1.8 seconds from the new leader. In WRC2 the top three was Sami, Gus and Oliver. Sami moved into the lead and Oliver dropped to second and Nikolay remained in third.

Into SS3 Rio Claro 1 – 23.32 km and it was another stage win for Elfyn from Ott and Teemu. The Welshman continued to hold the lead and in fact had opened the gap to Teemu. There was drama for Ott teammate though, with Pierre-Louis losing control and rolling out. The top three in WRC2 remained Sami, Oliver and Nikolay.

After the service break, Teemu won SS4 Pulperia 2 – 19.77 km from Ott and Thierry. The Finn jumped one place and into the lead as Ott moved into second overall, whilst Elfyn was now in third. Sami was continuing to set the pace in WRC2, winning the stage from Nikolay and Oliver. The Finn continued to hold the lead in the category as well.

Ott then took SS5 Rere 2 – 13.34 km from Thierry and Teemu, the result being the Estonia moved back into the lead from Teemu and Elfyn was still third. Once again, Sami was fastest from Oliver and Emil in WRC2.

Ott took SS6 Rio Claro 2 – 23.32 km from Teemu and Thierry. The Belgian’s pace brought him up into fourth overall, whilst Kalle suffered a spin in the stage. The top three remained Ott, Teemu and Elfyn. Sami also continued to lead WRC2 from Oliver and Nikolay.

Let’s check out the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	58:43.7
2	T. Suninen	M. Markkula	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+4.2
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+12.7
4	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+27.7
5	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+38.7
6	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+45.6
7	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+1:38.4

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“It’s been a quite consistent day and the afternoon loop was actually quite drama free, so clearly a lot about tyre management. I would say we did quite well. It was difficult to make the right choice on tyres and either tyre compound would have good, but I would say it played out quite well. The feeling in the car was quite consistent and I had a good rhythm in the stages.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Teemu Suninen

What a day! I think we did a good job, we were driving very well and pretty much on the limit the entire time, with a few moments here and there, but we are still here and in a really good position with just a few seconds between us and the lead. The car was really enjoyable to drive. I am happy with my performance. I think we managed some small issues well and didn’t lose too much time. I want to go for the win, but tomorrow is like a whole new rally. It is very different profile, and I am still learning the car in different conditions, how to manage the tyres – which will be really important tomorrow. There is a lot of new things, but I will try to keep pushing.”

Thierry Neuville

“Today has been a bit of a struggle. This morning whenever I tried to attack, I was almost going off, which is not the situation you want on such a challenging event. It was a bit better this afternoon, but road position is making a huge difference here. We are struggling on the loose gravel, the car just can’t get grip and slides around, but in the afternoon loop we were able to find some grip and it was much more drivable. It is good to have made a place and to have got ahead of Kalle, which was our target for a good road position for tomorrow, however there are still four cars behind us who are in a better place.”

Esapekka Lappi

“Both Janne and I are ok, which is the main thing, but unfortunately our roll cage is damaged, and we are unable to continue in Chile. I braked too late on the last corner of SS1 Pulperia 1 and to try and save the situation, I turned in a bit earlier. There was a gravel bank just in front of the concrete, and I think the front tyre dug into the gravel which caused us to roll. It had been a very challenging stage and I felt I was too safe, braking too early throughout; I just didn’t have the normal rhythm.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“We had a really good morning, but it wasn’t easy. The grip levels were really low and today’s stages were particularly technical. It was very fast in places, but also quite blind, so with the grip as it was, the pacenotes were really critical. Somehow the road seemed to be cleaning more in the afternoon, which was a bit of a surprise and made things quite difficult for us, and I also just didn’t have the best feeling behind the wheel. But given our starting position this morning, it’s quite OK to at least be in the fight tonight. We’ll have a better position for tomorrow and can look to fight from there.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Today was quite difficult for us. The stages were definitely looser and more slippery than I had been expecting. Where it had been drying up, it was a big challenge to open the road. We changed the setup of the car a bit for the afternoon, and it was certainly a bit better in that sense, but the road cleaning was still a big factor: the surface was a bit messier with no clear lines to follow, so it was tough. Then I had a half-spin in the final stage and dropped a place, which was not good for the road position for tomorrow, but hopefully we can still start to fight back.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today’s stages were really difficult. They were mainly new for everyone, and we knew the grip would be not so high, but it was even more slippery than expected. There were also quite a lot of blind corners, so you really needed to trust the pacenotes and the car. In the morning I was driving on the careful side with no rhythm, but in the afternoon, I had a much better feeling. With my engineer, we changed quite a lot in the service and the car felt a lot better. The pace was also there, but I was still making some mistakes and losing a bit of time. Tomorrow will be a big challenge also with long stages and we’ll be the third car on the road, but I will do my best.”

Saturday

Well, it was a great return to the stages in Chile and what does day two hold for us? Well, it is the longest day in terms of competitive kilometres with 154km’s over the six stages. Can Ott continue to lead, or will Elfyn and Teemu fight back? What will Thierry do, or even Kalle?

What will happen in WRC2 as the fight for victory continues between Sami and Oliver? Can Gus get into the mix as well? How about Nikolay who holds third in the category?

For the first time since 2019 the crews and teams are heading to South America. The last time this round was included on the calendar was in 2020, but the round was cancelled prior to the start due to the political unrest in the country at the time.

This seasons rally has 320km’s over sixteen stages. The longest day is Saturday with 154km’s over six stages.

Following Thursday’s shakedown, crews will take to the first stage of Rally Chile, Pulperia 1 (19.77km), at 8:35am on Friday morning.

Five more stages follow on Friday, increasing the competitive distance to 112.86km

Saturday presents the longest day of the weekend, as the 154.00km distance is made up of two loops of three demanding stages.

The final four tests will take place on Sunday, with the second pass of El Poñen (13.86km) offering Power Stage points to round off the rally.

Let’s hear as always from the drivers.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“Greece was a good result for us, and the championship is looking better for us again, but we need to focus hard for the next event because Rally Chile is going to be another big challenge. The last time we were there, I was driving a Rally2 car, and we had a good weekend. But I think that after four years and with a lot of new stages, it is going to feel more like a new rally anyway and it’s going to be a challenging event for everyone. The roads are nice, but the conditions can be very tricky, and the grip can change a lot. Still, I’m looking forward to it and hope it can be a good rally for us.”

Elfyn Evans

“Rally Chile was a nice event when we went there for the first time back in 2019 but also a very challenging one. The roads remind me a bit of Wales in points, but the rally will be happening at a different time of year on this occasion and only a few of the stages will be the same. It will almost be like a new rally with a lot of new pacenotes to write, so it could be a difficult week. There isn’t so much knowledge from the past we can use, but I am looking forward to it, nonetheless. We’re going to give it everything, as we will keep doing until the end of the year.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s going to be a big challenge for all of us to go back to Chile after four years. I have some nice memories from there in 2019 when we had a good weekend in WRC 2. Of course, I haven’t been there in a top-category car before, so that will be an extra challenge for me. The roads are quite fast but also very tricky, and there will be a lot of new stages this time. It’s going to be a very important rally for the team and for me also. It won’t be easy, but I will try to do my best and hopefully we can have a good weekend.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Rally Chile has only been run once before and this time there are going to be a lot of new stages, so our previous experience does not help our preparations too much. Because of this, the recce will be very important. Last time in Chile it was quite tough for me as I had a big crash, but we go back this year with the target of having a good rally and finishing the weekend on the podium. For this to happen we will need consistency, a great feeling in the car and a setup that works well on the roads. If we can get all of those things to align, we will be fast.”

Esapekka Lappi

“The first thing I will do to prepare is to look at the onboards from when I was there in 2019, but a lot of the stages we will be taking on are new for this year. I will also try to remember how the surface behaved in different conditions and what the feel of the car was like. While there are some technical sections, overall, the rally is quite fast, which reminds you of Estonia and Finland a bit. However, the grip level you get at those events is not there in Chile. It is not the roughest rally, so we won’t have to think about saving the car too much, but we will need to have confidence to be fast. As always, the goal is to finish on the podium.”

Teemu Suninen

“Most of the stages at the event are new, so our preparations will be different. Making good pace notes on the recce will be key to being successful. The roads in Chile are normally fast, but we still expect them to be slower than those at Rally Estonia and Rally Finland as they are a bit more technical. The surface is quite smooth, so we won’t have to think as much about the car lasting well, we can just push it to the limit from start to finish. Our focus is purely on ourselves, trying to improve our pace from Finland and finish as high as possible.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“Most of the rally seems to be new again this year, also the weather plays a big part there, but all together stages should be very similar to what we have experienced in New Zealand or in Welsh forests.

“Sport is always at maximum effort whatever the conditions. As it’s a case of more or less a new event again, we don’t know what kind of stages we will see. Generally, rhythm wise, there used to be all kinds of stages in Chile from twisty and slow to fast and smooth. New roads always make it challenging, and it takes extra effort to make the notes perfect.  As the event is overseas and quite unique, we need to guess the car setup and hope all decisions are correct when we arrive at the start of stage one!

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“It’ll be an amazing experience to go to Chile for the first time! It’s the first time for me rallying in South America, so I’m pleased about that. It looks like the rally will be a really nice event, quite slippery in some places from what I can tell, and that means it’s very important to be clever and to avoid any mistakes and stay on the line. There isn’t too much space to make mistakes. I think it’ll be an interesting rally.”

Grégoire Munster

“The challenge for Rally Chile will, of course, be driving in the top category. Everything is new for us in the car and in the team, as we’ll be working with different mechanics and engineers too. It’s a fun challenge ahead, I’ve never been to Chile before, and most of the stages are new so we cannot base much from previous onboards. We’re looking forward to it, I just want to make the best out of it and enjoy the rally. I hope to see improvements in our pace over the weekend and just really live the full experience of driving a Rally1 car.”

Alberto Heller

“I’m really excited about the rally, it’s a pleasure for me to drive in my home country, in my national rally. This is a great opportunity for me, the idea is to have the car in the middle of the road, drive through and try to build speed corner by corner. But the first challenge is to finish the rally, enjoy it with my people, and have an amazing experience to remember!”

WRC2 Competitors

Toksport

Oliver Solberg

“This rally hasn’t been in the WRC since 2019,” said Oliver, “and I didn’t compete in that year. I did, of course, watch all the coverage and in our preparation for this week, me and Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] have been watching as many videos as we could find of the event and the roads.

“What can I say? They look fantastic. The place looks amazing. Who wouldn’t be excited by those stages? They look in places a lot like Wales, but there’s just a bit of everything in there: some fast and flowing sections and some tighter, twistier bits.

“To be honest, it’s not such a disadvantage for us not having driven in Chile before – only one of the stages is the same from 2019 and the first and third days are completely different.

“For me, the aim is to carry on doing what we have been doing all this year: just driving our own speed. OK, the [WRC2] championship hasn’t gone our way, but I’m really proud of the results we’ve achieved in the WRC – sixth in Finland was fantastic and seventh in Portugal was also really strong. We’ve been six times in the top-10 overall. It would be nice to make that seven.”

“Of course,” said Oliver, “I competed in North America a few times in the US and in México and I absolutely love it over there. I heard so many stories from my dad about driving in Argentina and about the passion from the fans down there – we’ll be on the other side of the [Andes] mountains, but I think the feeling is going to be the same.

“The ceremonial start in 2019 was one of the best in the championship and going to a place called Los Angeles for this year’s ceremonial start is going to be very cool on Thursday night.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport WRC2

Emil Lindholm

“A new event is always exciting and involves more preparations than rallies I’ve run before. It has been helpful to talk to other crews about their experiences to have an idea of what to expect when we head out for recce. Unlike some of the rougher events, we expect the time gaps in Chile to be small, so the driving needs to be precise. I think we should have a good package, and even though the starting field we have in WRC2 is very competitive, I believe that with a consistent performance we should be able to score a podium.”

Fabrizio Zaldivar

“For me, Rally Chile will be a special event as it is in my home continent: South America. Our last event in Finland did not end how we wanted; our hope is that we can show a better performance in Chile. I feel now more confident in the car and know what it takes to be fast, but it is a new rally for me, so I don’t quite know what to expect. To have a clean weekend and finish towards the front of the field will be our target and I will try my best to do it.”

Summary

This will likely be a really important round in deciding this seasons championship. If Elfyn can finish ahead of his teammate, then with two rounds left after this event it will be game on between them.

 

In terms of possible winners, there are a few, but it is hard to look past Ott and M-Sport taking victory. They scored a good win last time this event took place in 2019. Other drivers that could go well include Esapekka and Teemu who drove for Citroen and M-Sport in 2019 and took fifth and sixth overall. However, their starting position on day one will certainly benefit them. Can they make the most and take a podium, or maybe even victory?!

 

The final day then and 41km’s three stages to decide the result of this event. Thierry and Seb both returned to the starting line-up and the Belgian would open the road.

 

First up was the classic SS13 Tarzan – 23.37 km and it was a stage win for Elfyn, beating Dani by nine seconds and with that the Welshman was back into second overall. Third fastest was Thierry. In WRC2 there were some changes made overnight with Gus and Andreas being swapped around after some changes to the notional time given to the Norwegian. Nevertheless, he won the stage and reduced Gus’ lead to just 1.1 seconds. Yohan remained in third place.

 

The first run of the power stage, SS14 Grammeni 1 – 9.00 km saw Dani take a good stage win, but with Elfyn setting a time just 1.3 seconds slower the Welshman remained in second place. Ott was third fastest and was holding fourth overall as well. Andreas took the lead of WRC2 as he was fastest again from Adrien and Joona. Gus was now in second place in the category.

 

Well, to the final stage then, SS15 Grammeni 2[Power Stage] – 9.00 km and the Welshman set the pace at the top of the timesheets beating early pace setter Ott and the Welshman confirmed his second-place finish. However, Kalle who had driven through the earlier stages with a measured drive, unleashed his pace which he’d been holding in reserve earlier and came through to win the stage and the rally. Top positions in the stage, Kalle, Elfyn, Ott, Dani and Esapekka. Andreas won the WRC2 category from Gus and Yohan. WRC2 top three in the stage was Joona, Adrien and Andreas.

Let’s take a look at the finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification –Acropolis Rally

1	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	3:00:16.7
2	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+1:31.7
3	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+1:35.9
4	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+4:28.4
5	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+6:22.3
6	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+7:20.9
7	A. Mikkelsen	T. Eriksen	Škoda Fabia RS	+9:41.0
8	G. Greensmith	J. Andersson	Škoda Fabia RS	+9:51.3
9	J. Rossel	A. Dunand	Citroën C3	+11:07.0
10	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+11:43.4

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a nice weekend, for sure. This rally is always so tricky, and it was a tough week with all the difficult conditions, starting already in the recce. It was a big challenge, and starting first on the road I was not expecting to finish first, so taking 30 points is amazing. Last year we struggled from start to finish in Greece, and this year even as first car we could at least fight with the others. Big thanks to the team, as the car was super strong. We could fight back quite well on Saturday, still staying out of trouble and trying to take care of the car and the tyres which you always need to do on this type of rally. Then I really went for it on the Power Stage, like we always try to do. Now we need to stay consistent and focus on the next rallies.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a pretty up-and-down weekend. If we rewind to Saturday lunchtime, we were very lucky to stay in the rally after the radiator damage. We lost over a minute, so to come back to second place, we have to be happy considering everything. Dani was keeping the pressure on and it was still really tight going into the final stage, so it was good to secure the place in the end and to take some Power Stage points as well. It’s not been a perfect weekend for us in championship terms, as Kalle’s been very strong, so congratulations to him, but we will continue to give it everything. And it’s an incredible result for the team: a credit to everyone for making a leap forward from where we were here last year.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s not been the rally we wanted on our side but that’s the way it is sometimes. This is the kind of rally where you need to have luck on your side, with the very rough conditions, and unfortunately, we had an accumulation of issues yesterday and had to stop. Today I tried my best in the Power Stage but starting pretty much in the front was not so easy. At the end, the positive is that we had some good performance this weekend. We were not rewarded for it, but at least the team did another great result with a one-two, both in the rally and in the Power Stage, which is really good for both championships.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Dani Sordo

“I tried everything in that final stage. Elfyn had a little bit of bad luck during the rally, but he has driven very well. I’m not really happy with my performance this weekend, but we managed to finish in third place. Today we were able to go for it, which I really enjoyed, so I’d like to give a big thanks to the team for giving me another opportunity to drive like this. They are striving all the time to improve the car and pushing me to do better, so I will try to continue doing so.”

Esapekka Lappi

“It was good to finish the rally in the way that we did. I was enjoying the final stages, I was aggressively attacking but lost some time as well because of that approach. Still, after two days of problems it was good to have a trouble-free day and an enjoyable drive. Today was ok overall, but it was not our weekend. We need to get better, and next time we will be.”

Thierry Neuville

“Luck wasn’t with us this weekend; yesterday, we were in control of the lead, had a good tyre strategy, and the car was working well. Everything was going perfectly until our suspension failure, and unfortunately that cost us a victory. I enjoyed the driving today, the car was feeling very nice, so that’s a positive to finish the weekend. This may be the end of our championship title hopes, but now we look ahead and target some victories in the final events of the season.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tänak

“It was altogether a very challenging time, not only to the organisers but the whole of Greece. It was extremely tricky and was definitely a big job for them, so to come out from that has been impressive. On the rally side, we can see how quickly the weather can change and that it can change everything.

It’s one of my favourite events, the stages are cool, and it’s not actually so rough. The roads have a really nice flow and most of it is quite wide, so they’re stages you can enjoy.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“It was a great start to the rally, when the stages were quite smooth, but then we had some issues with the tyres and punctures. We lost a lot of time after that, and we were 11th (in WRC2) on Saturday morning, and finishing fourth now, so we can be happy with the rest of the rally.

“The car has been good all weekend, it’s been difficult for everybody because it’s such a tough rally. We can be pleased with the performance of the car when we need it.”

Grégoire Munster

“It’s been a good weekend in Greece, I’m happy about the performance and the stage times we did. For sure Adrien is the reference with the Fiesta and we managed to be close to him, so that’s a good point here. We managed to stay out of trouble, apart from two punctures at the end of stages, and with that we managed to secure a strong end position and win in the WRC2 Challenger class.

“About Chile; we’re really excited to be there, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity so we want to just grab as much experience as possible and then look to reuse that back in WRC2.”

Jourdan Serderidis

“17th overall and 1st Greek driver: it was the objective, but you still needed to achieve it! First Greek means so much to me. Fred and myself, had a fantastic week, without punctures, without big moments and with decent speed. So, I am very happy!”

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 10

1	K. Rovanperä	200
2	E. Evans	167
3	T. Neuville	134
4	O. Tänak	119
5	S. Ogier	99
6	E. Lappi	98
7	T. Katsuta	66
8	D. Sordo	63
9	T. Suninen	34
10	P.L Loubet	28

 

2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 10

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	430
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	339
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	220

Summary

What an incredible rally then. The roads had lots of surprises for the crews, in particular the single run stages on Friday. It was a good battle throughout the Friday’s stages between Seb and Thierry which continued into Saturday. It did not continue though and with Seb also suffering a problem on Saturday’s final stage, Kalle was there to take his third victory of the year with a drive where he kept out of trouble. Elfyn overcame a tyre off the rim and also the technical problem with his engine to take an excellent podium and also with second fastest in the power stage good points for the championship.

 

Dani also kept out of trouble as well and took yet another podium. He is a really good driver and deserves the success he took this weekend.

 

Next round is over the weekend of the 28^th of September to the 1^st of October in Chile. Look out for my preview just before.

Coming into day two Thierry held a narrow lead over Seb with six stages and 141km’s ahead of them. Jourdan would open the road throughout the day in his Puma, the Greek driver set to enjoy himself again.

 

Into SS7 Pavliani 1 – 24.25 km and Kalle was fastest from Seb and Thierry. Seb retook the lead at the end of the stage, now leading the Belgian by 7.8 seconds. In WRC2 Andreas was fastest in the stage from Marco and Yohan who continued to lead the category from Marco who’d made his way into second overall, pushing Gus down to third overall.

 

Next up was SS8 Karoutes 1 – 28.49 km and guess what! Thierry retook the lead from Seb who’d gone straight on at a left-hand junction! The gap remained very small though, just two seconds between them. Seb was second fastest in the stage and Elfyn third, the Welshman moving ahead of Dani and back into fourth place. Andreas made it another category win from Marco and Joona, whilst the category top three remained Yohan, Marco and Gus.

 

The final stage before the service break then, SS9 Eleftherochori 1 – 18.02 km and Kalle was fastest from Thierry and Seb again. This trio were dominating the top of the timesheets. There was drama for Elfyn though as he stopped near the end of the stage with a warning light on his dash. Having switched to EV mode, he and Scott finished the stage, losing a huge amount of time sadly and Dani moved back ahead into fourth place, however just 6.4 seconds remained between the crews. There was drama in WRC2 though as second placed Marco crashed out. Andreas was again fastest from Gus and Sami, whilst Yohan continued to lead from new second placed Gus and Sami was now third.

 

After the service break, SS10 Pavliani 2 – 24.25 km saw Kalle set the fastest time from Seb and Elfyn, whose GR Yaris had been fixed. We had a new leader as well. Yep, Thierry had not just lost the lead, his steering was broken, and he was out for the day. There was a change also in the lead of WRC2 as Yohan suffered a puncture and fell to third place. Gus took over the lead, whilst Andreas came into second place.

 

Kalle also won SS11 Karoutes 2 – 28.49 km from Seb and Elfyn. The Welshman moved into third place overall with his pace through this one, although he did suffer a tyre off the rim. His teammate, Takamoto had a terrible stage, suffering a double puncture! Crazy stuff. Andreas was quickest again in WRC2 from Adrien and Gus. The Brit continued to hold the lead from Andreas and Yohan.

The final stage then of the day, SS12 Eleftherochori 2 – 18.02 km which had a sting in its tail… Seb and Kalle were battling for the lead, and it was great to see the Toyota teammates allowed to fight in the way they were really going for it. However, the Frenchman suffered a rear suspension failure and stopped on the stage to try and fix the problem. It could not be done though, and they finished the stage with two flat tyres and also the left rear suspension at a very bad angle. They did attempt to make it back to the service, but they were not able to and that meant they were out. Meanwhile Dani and Elfyn continued to fight, and now this was for second overall, the Spanish crew moved ahead again of Elfyn and Scott. Incredibly there was a lead change also in WRC2 with Andreas passing Gus! Yohan remained in third place.

Let’s check the top places and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	2:29:40.5
2	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+2:04.4
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:09.4
4	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+4:49.7
5	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+6:16.2
6	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+7.02.2

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“I think we had a good day today. We were fast and we were also really consistent, which is quite important in a rally like this. Like we saw today, a lot of things can happen. It’s not nice when those things happen to a team-mate, and Seb was driving a good rally. I had the championship to think about, so I tried to avoid taking the last risk all the time and it worked out pretty well. I can be pretty happy with the pace also. We were pushing hard but still driving clever, backing off in the rough places. Of course, tomorrow will still be a tricky day and we need to stay clever, but hopefully we can get it done.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a tough day out there. It’s been quite a mix during the day with different conditions all the time. We picked up some trouble on the last stage before service this morning, so in one sense we’re lucky to still be in the rally. We didn’t have a lot of margin to get the car back, but we managed to do it and although it was a shame to drop the time, it was good to still be in the fight. Then the afternoon was quite rough in places, and I was trying to look after the car as much as possible. I’m happy to be here tonight and it’s still all to fight for tomorrow.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It was a challenging start already this morning with some muddy sections in the first stage, and the last one was quite rough. Our first loop could have been better, but I was happy to get through without big drama. Then the whole afternoon was quite eventful. In the place where Thierry had his issue, I also had an impact and some damage, but we managed to continue with good pace. Then, leaving the regroup before the last stage we lost hybrid. After a couple of kilometres we started to have a puncture at the rear, and then a second one. I tried to carry on slowly but unfortunately exiting a hairpin I heard a very small bang, and the left-rear upright was broken. I tried everything I could to fix it and bring the car back, but it was too much.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Dani Sordo

I am quite happy with today; I would like to be closer to the others, but we managed the conditions quite well and now we are in second. In all honesty, while the stages were a little bit demanding, they were much better than we expected. The second stage of the loops was slippery and hard on the tyres – a proper Acropolis stage – and Eleftherotori had stones everywhere, so we had to take it very carefully for the car. In the end, we have no problems on the car, which is very important. We have a lot of work to do tonight – tomorrow is a long day, and the stages were in a really bad condition during the recce, but hopefully we can bring home a good result for the team.”

Esapekka Lappi

“A bit too much action today! Our issues started yesterday, and then continued today with the handbrake in the morning and then later the transmission. For sure, the result is really bad; I don’t know what I could do differently. I guess it is just bad luck. The conditions today were much better; we thought during the recce it would be a lot tougher, but it’s dried up a lot and I thought the stages were quite good. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow; we’ll keep our eyes on Power Stage points, but first we need to get there.”

Thierry Neuville

“We were leading the rally but unfortunately, we were forced to retire for the day on SS10. We were about 11km into the stage, following the line, when we drove over a hole and the suspension broke. We don’t know exactly what broke, I think the accumulation of vibration and shocks throughout the weekend caused a suspension failure after an impact. At the end of the day, this is one of the roughest rallies of the season, and this year it is particularly tough for the cars. It’s very frustrating to be unlucky again this weekend considering all the hard work and efforts everybody puts in to get the best possible result. The performance was there but everything needs to be perfect to score the maximum points. Now, we look forward to the upcoming event to finish on a high on the last three rallies of the season.”

Sunday

Well, just three stages to complete this event, with the classic Tarzan stage before two runs of Grammeni, last seen in 2005. Can Kalle hold on to win? He can, but will there be a final sting in the tail? Also, can Elfyn pass Dani once more and secure second place on the podium?

The first full day of action would see the crews tackle some really tricky sectors in the stages today. There were a couple of complex matters as well for the first day with no service and also only one of the five stages run twice, with the three other stages only being run one time, plus the final stage of the day almost 30km’s.

 

Into SS2 Loutraki 1 – 10.37 km and Thierry was fastest from Seb and Ott. These three were now the top three, with the Belgian leading the way from Ott and Seb. Kalle held fourth overall at this point, just 5.1 from the lead. Sadly, for Pierre-Louis he was out for the day after suffering a technical problem on the way to the stage. In WRC2 Sami was fastest from Adrien and Yohan. These three were the top three as well, with Adrien leading the way from Yohan and Sami.

 

The second stage of the day then, SS3 Pissia – 16.43 km, with the tyre fitting zone to follow and the conditions in the stage with some damp sections suited the Finn being first into the stage and he was fastest from Thierry and Seb. The Finns time saw him jump two positions up the leaderboard and into second overall, just two seconds behind Thierry. In WRC2, Adrien was quickest again from Yohan by a huge 8.1 seconds, whilst Kajetan made his way into third overall. Erstwhile third placed Sami dropped two places as well.

After the tyre fitting zone back to SS4 Loutraki 2 – 10.37 km and Seb was fastest from Thierry and EP. The final car to come through was Jourdan in his Puma. Sadly, the WRC2 runners would not get the opportunity to have a second run through the stage with some idiots standing in the ruts on the inside of a corner. The remaining runners were given a notional time.

 

Next up was SS5 Livadia – 21.03 km and Ott was fastest from Thierry and Seb. The Belgian continued to hold the lead and had actually increased the gap to Seb by five seconds. Sadly, Elfyn dropped two places to sixth overall with Esapekka and Dani gaining a place ahead of the Welshman. In WRC2 Lauri was fastest from Sami and Marco, whilst Adrien remained in the lead from Yohan and Sami who had just moved into third place in the category.

 

The final stage then of the day, SS6 Elatia – 28.32 km and a great run from Ott and Seb who were fastest from Elfyn. The Welshman regained two positions and was back into fourth overall. Dani suffered a small, short stop and lost a lot of time. In WRC2 Andreas was fastest from Marco and Robert. Sadly, Adrien fell from the lead to tenth in the category after having to stop to change a wheel.

 

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	55:10.4
2	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2.8
3	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+25.5
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+31.0
5	E. Lappi	J. Ferm	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+32.1
6	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+41.7
7	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+48.6

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“That last stage was stressful; not only was it a challenging one at 28km, but from the very start I could hear a noise coming from the rear differential. I was having a problem with the transmission on previous stages but just on the start line until SS6 Elatia. I couldn’t go full throttle for the first three gears, which was costing me a lot of time. I was a bit worried we wouldn’t make it to the end; thankfully we did. The difficult part now for us is to make our tyre choice tomorrow – we have no opportunity to react in the morning, so we need to make that decision tonight. I’m convinced we made the right call today to be fastest; whether it was a good choice to help us win the rally, we will only know at the end of the weekend.”

Esapekka Lappi

“When we came to the stop line on SS4, we saw the low water pressure alarm and then found the leak. I think it’s both sides of the radiator which got damaged; we managed to fix the front, but the rear we couldn’t. We have been adding water at the stage finishes as well as some other locations – we saw a tap outside a restaurant, so we got some from there as well! Regardless, today’s main struggle was not this problem with the car, but more the conditions on the stages. I never felt really satisfied. We tried something new, but I think we need to go back to my normal set-up. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow; today we tried to maximise the grip, but we compromised elsewhere, and I didn’t feel comfortable. I’d like to take a more cautious approach that allows me to push.”

 

Dani Sordo

“It was so difficult to know where the muddy places are, the stages have changed a lot between the recce and now. I stalled the engine under braking on the final stage, however it was not an amazing day for me overall. Of course, the conditions were tricky, but I did not have good pace. In normal conditions the road cleaning effect is quite high, which might have benefitted us, but it isn’t noticeable this year. We don’t know what tomorrow will be like, but if the stages are anything like what we saw in the recce, it could be really bad. It will be a challenging day if the surface hasn’t dried out quickly.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It was quite a big challenge today. The stages were drying up much more than we expected, so there was actually quite a lot of cleaning for us to do. When it was a bit damp and muddy, we could do some good times, like in SS3 this morning. Then this afternoon we were suffering a bit more with the road position with a lot of loose gravel, and I felt I left a bit of time on the last one. But at least the starting place is now better for tomorrow although there could still be some surprises with the conditions after so much rain.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been a good start to the rally for us. I was happy to be back in the car at racing speed, although I maybe had to drive a couple of kilometres first before I could be at 100 per cent. Some sections were challenging but luckily the sun was there and helped the roads to dry very quickly. It’s good to be so close to the lead, which is where we want to be, in the fight for the win. But we need to carry on like this tomorrow, which is the biggest part of the rally with long stages and rough conditions.”

Elfyn Evans

“The conditions were pretty tough at points today, but they were probably a lot better overall than what we had expected. The sun came out and the mud dried up quite a lot during the afternoon. We were probably a bit too much on the cautious side for most of the day, but it was a bit better on that last one and we managed to come back up the leaderboard. It was quite difficult to strike the balance, and some of the stages were cleaning quite a bit. There’s still a lot of driving left to do this weekend in some difficult conditions, so we need to use our head.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Ott Tanak

“The day was not too bad, just the one tyre fitting zone, we had some changes. After that the water pump didn’t start. We had quite a busy time there, somehow the mechanics managed to solve it.”

Saturday

The second full day of this rally will see the crews face six stages and 141km’s. Can Thierry hold onto his lead, or will the Toyota drivers be able to pass the Belgian?