€15,000 suspended fine after safety breach

Stewards have issued the Rally Chile organiser with a suspended €15,000 fine and a reprimand, following a safety breach that resulted in a vehicle driving on a stage in the opposite direction.

According to a stewards report, an unauthorised vehicle entered stage seven on Saturday morning. The unauthorized vehicle passed through the flying finish travelling in the reverse direction of the stage having also passed through a police control, the stop control while passing several marshal points.

The FIA medical delegate car came across the vehicle at the 13 kilometre mark at 0817, with the stage due to begin at 0907 local time. The report states that the vehicle almost caused a collision with the FIA medical delegate car.

‘Lack of communication’

The stewards highlighted that there had been no communication about the incident from the clerk of the course and the chief safety officer to Rally HQ, with the first report coming from the FIA medical delegate.

The clerk of the course admitted that there was a lack of communication and subsequently apologised for the incident that occurred.

“Such communications are one of the most important aspects of safety during a rally event. It is imperative that all marshals must communicate any deviation to the Rally Control immediately either during the running of a special stage but also before, when the safety convoy is going through the stages and the roads are already closed,” read the stewards report.

“Due to this lack of communication, the Stewards concluded that the Organiser was in breach of Art. 12.2.1.h of the 2025 FIA International Sporting Code and the penalties mentioned above were imposed on the organiser in order to encourage the continuous improvement with a specific focus on safety.”

Final warning

The stewards warned that it will “immediately and permanently stop the competition” should another safety issue arise during the remainder of the rally.

This year’s event has four stages remaining that are due to take pace on Sunday.