Hyundai’s Ott Tanak has laid the groundwork for a potential third consecutive Rally Chile triumph for the Estonian ace, ending Friday’s opening leg with a narrow 0.4s advantage over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
It was a day of contrasting fortunes for Tanak, who has won every WRC round previously held in Chile (2019 for Toyota, and last year with M-Sport Ford). He struggled in the morning, sitting only fifth overall at the lunchtime regroup after grappling with a lack of confidence and balance in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 during the first pass of the three gravel stages south of Chile’s second city, Concepcion.
However, setup tweaks at service rejuvenated his performance and helped him to overhaul Evans on the days penultimate stage, the 8.29-mile Rere 2, to claim that wafer-thin overnight lead.
Despite Tanak’s strong afternoon, Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier appeared the most potent contender throughout day one. The eight-time WRC champ, who began this season on a limited schedule, but has morphed into Toyota’s best shot at the 2024 drivers’ crown, won three stages in his GR Yaris Rally1 and would have led the rally by almost 30 seconds, had he not run wide and hit a bank on the morning’s final stage, forcing him to stop and change a wheel.
Tanak was encouraged by the afternoon turnaround and remains poised to close the points gap to his WRC drivers’ championship-leading teammate, Thierry Neuville, who ended down in sixth after starting first on the road and enduring the worst of the loose gravel on the hard-packed dirt roads
Evans, who’s been slow out of the blocks on recent events, delivered a more aggressive start in Chile, but struggled with confidence on the afternoon loop, admitting: “I’m a bit lost with the feeling, in all honesty. It’s not feeling natural at the moment.”
Two-time and reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera, who’s also chosen a limited schedule for Toyota this season, completed the top three, 6.7s adrift of Evans in his GR Yaris, but voiced frustrations after overshooting and hitting a gate on the afternoon’s opening stage.
“I don’t feel comfortable on these roads,” Rovanpera explained. “When it’s dry like this, it doesn’t suit my usual driving style. I’m fighting the car and my driving a lot.”
Back at the event where he made his top-tier Rally1 debut last year, Gregoire Munster put in his best performance of the season, but tire damage on the final stage saw the M-Sport Ford driver drop to fifth behind Toyota’s Sami Pajari, who’s making only his second Rally1 start. Just 1.4s separated the pair at day’s end, with Pajari in turn trailing Rovanpera by only 2.2s.
For Munster’s M-Sport Ford teammates, it was a more challenging day. Martins Sesks retired his non-hybrid Puma Rally1 car in the morning after hitting a bank and damaging two tires while only carrying one spare wheel. Adrien Fourmaux fell from fourth to eighth after incurring a one-minute time penalty for arriving late to the start of the penultimate stage. The delay stemmed from roadside repairs, first to his alternator and then to a water pipe damaged in fixing the alternator issue.