Sebastien Ogier leads the World Rally Championship after defeating Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans to claim his fifth victory of the season and maximum points in Chile.
Seeking a record-equalling ninth world title, Ogier, who is contesting a partial season, boosted his bid after coming through a titanic battle with Evans across Chile’s 16 stages in changeable weather to win by 11.0s.
Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais took the full 35 points by claiming the 10 Super Sunday points to move into a two-point championship lead over Evans.
Hyundai held a 1-2-3 early on in the rally but its challenge faltered, with Adrien Fourmaux ultimately only able to salvage a podium in third, 46.5s back, as Thierry Neuville hung onto fourth – 59.0s off Ogier.
Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson sealed a maiden WRC2 title after taking a fifth class win of the season.
“The points are what we deserve after we lost some to God weather in Paraguay, I’m happy with that and I’m looking forward to switching to tarmac,” said Ogier, who took a 66th win from his 200th WRC start.
“I think it is many things that have come together. Vincent is doing a great job on my side, always perfect. The team give me good tools to fight with, so thank you guys, it is amazing. Now we are number one, a record for Toyota more than deserved.”
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Ogier’s rally started slowly with the Frenchman admitting he’d got his set up wrong for Friday’s morning’s damp stages. Dropping to as low as seventh, Ogier managed to recover to fourth at midday service.
The damp conditions favoured those at the top of the road orders as title contender Kalle Rovanpera won the opening two tests to race into a 5.8s lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak. However, Rovanpera’s victory hopes were dashed when he clipped a bank and knocked a rear-left tyre off the rim in stage three, which cost the Finn 1m11.9s.
Evans assumed a 0.5s rally lead over Tanak heading into Friday afternoon but this was short-lived as Hyundai outlined its strength in the drying conditions, as the cleaning effect hurt those at the top of the road order. Tanak moved into a 6.9s lead over Evans after stage four with that advantage growing to 9.7s as team-mates Fourmaux and Neuville slotted into second and third, with Ogier lurking in fifth.
The lead changed hands again after stage six as Tanak ground to a halt with an engine failure, handing Fourmaux a one-second lead over Neuville. Ogier, now much more comfortable behind the wheel, notched up his first stage win to leap to third and only 2.3s adrift of the lead.
Heavy overnight rain made conditions treacherous on Saturday morning. This played into the hands of Evans, as the Welshman vaulted from fifth to the rally lead after stage nine as Fourmaux and Neuville struggled for traction on the polished roads.
Tanak rejoined the rally and benefited from being first on the road to post two stage wins but with concerns over his spare engine fitted to his i20 N, he opted to retire and rejoin the rally on Sunday to fight for Super Sunday points.
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Hyundai’s struggles continued as the stages dried out across the afternoon. A frustrated Fourmaux and Neuville, the latter whose gamble on tyres backfired, began to drop out of the victory fight.
The afternoon belonged to Ogier as a clean sweep of stage wins lifted the Frenchman ahead of Evans and into 6.3s lead heading into Sunday’s final four stages.
Evans managed to win stage 14 to cut the deficit to Ogier to 5.9s before the latter responded to take 4.4s out of Evans on the penultimate stage. Eager for Super Sunday points, Ogier continued to push to seal a 66th career win in style by claiming the Power Stage by 0.4s.
After a late shower robbed Fourmaux of a podium in Paraguay, the Frenchman secured the final place on the podium – his third of the year.
Neuville came under pressure from the impressive Sami Pajari to keep fourth place, as the Finn arguably produced his best drive of the season to date to claim fifth.
After Friday’s error, Rovanpera salvaged sixth, as his title bid suffered a blow with the Finn now 21 points behind.
Fellow title contender Tanak managed to seal one Super Sunday point despite being down on power due to an issue with his spare engine. The Estonian is now 43 points behind in the title race.
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta came home in seventh, hampered by a lack of experience of the stages after missing last year’s event.
M-Sport-Ford’s Gregoire Munster drove smartly to seal his best result since March in eighth, while team-mate Josh McErlean missed out on points after a wild spin on Friday followed by a fuel pump issue on Saturday.
Solberg recovered from a spin on the opening stage to seal a maiden WRC2 title in style by taking the class win by 40.4s from Nikolay Gryazin. The Swede finished ninth overall and cannot be beaten to the WRC2 crown with three rounds to spare after main title rivals Yohan Rossel and Gus Greensmith each suffered engine issues.
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