Sébastien Ogier’s hopes of winning Rally Chile took a major hit after the eight-time world champion suffered a puncture on SS3, forcing him to stop and change a tire following a collision with a bank. Despite Ogier’s setback, Toyota Gazoo Racing continues to dominate, holding a 1-2-3 overall lead with Elfyn Evans at the front.
Ogier started the day on a high note, setting the fastest time on the opening stage by a staggering 9.1 seconds. However, due to spectator safety concerns, the stage was canceled after just three drivers completed it, leaving the rest of the field with Thierry Neuville’s default time and skewing the early leaderboard.
Evans quickly established his pace on SS2, clocking the fastest time by 2.3 seconds over his team-mate Kalle Rovanperä, with Ogier trailing in fourth after a strong showing by rookie Sami Pajari, creating a Toyota 1-2-3-4 finish for the stage.
Ogier maintained a slim 6.6-second lead heading into SS3 but ran wide early in the stage, striking a bank with his Toyota’s rear-left. The damage resulted in a puncture that forced Ogier and his co-driver Vincent Landais to stop mid-stage for repairs, costing them nearly two minutes and dropping them out of the top 10. Ogier, still reeling from a suspended €30,000 fine from the FIA for previous comments, was tight-lipped about the incident, saying only, “Puncture, yeah. Nothing more than that.”
Meanwhile, Evans narrowly missed out on another stage win, finishing just 0.1 seconds behind Rovanperä on SS3. Rovanperä, however, expressed discomfort despite his competitive times, admitting, “I don’t feel comfortable at all on these roads. When it’s dry like this it just doesn’t suit my natural driving style.”
Sami Pajari, in only his second start in a Rally1 car, rounds out the top three, just 6.6 seconds off the lead. The competition remains fierce, with Grégoire Munster close behind in fourth, followed by Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux, with all three drivers within a second of each other.
Neuville, starting the day as road sweeper, is already 13.8 seconds off the pace in seventh and anticipates a tough rally. “It will be a long weekend for us, that’s for sure,” Neuville commented. “There’s nothing I can do at the moment, it’s very challenging.”
Mārtiņš Sesks’ Rally1 return turned disastrous on SS3 when he lost control, hitting a bank and puncturing both rear tires on his non-hybrid Puma. With only one spare, Sesks was forced to limp to the finish, losing over five minutes and being overtaken by WRC2 leaders Oliver Solberg and Yohan Rossel. “It’s a double puncture, we don’t have a second spare, so big trouble now,” Sesks lamented.
As the rally heads into the afternoon stages, all eyes will be on Toyota’s trio as they look to maintain their commanding positions, while Ogier faces a steep climb back into contention.
