Special Stage 9 of the Chile Rally, i.e. the 28.72 kilometer Maria de las Cruces 1, upset several positions in the provisional general classification of the event.
It’s all a question of tire choice and management. The result of the last test of today’s morning lap was determined by these two factors. The first, i.e. the choice of tires to mount and take with you in the three tests in the Chilean morning, had a decisive influence on what we observed on SS9.
Toyota bet on Soft tyres, considered ‘Prime’ (the most suitable ones) this weekend, while Ott Tanak and Hyundai instead placed a strong bet on hard tyres. The general classification of the stage is very clear: the Estonian from M-Sport won the special ahead of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 of Thierry Neuville and Teemu Suninen.
And Toyotas? light years away. The first is that of Kalle Rovanpera, eighth and 46″7 behind Tanak. The reigning world champion proceeded very slowly throughout the test, in order to prevent his tires from delaminating on a very treacherous surface.
Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta did even worse. Both pushed harder than the Finn, but suffered the same result: delaminated rear tires and a minute’s delay from the three fastest riders on the stage.
This result changed the ranking quite a bit, because Evans went from second to fourth place, losing in one fell swoop two positions – both on the podium – and also several seconds from Kalle Rovanpera, who is now just under half a minute behind him .
The Hyundais took advantage of this, with Teemu Suninen returning to second position and Thierry Neuville climbing onto the virtual podium, occupying the lowest step. An excellent tire choice by the team directed by Cyril Abiteboul, just as it was excellent in M-Sport, with the British team having already thought about this situation yesterday, having Tanak do the afternoon lap on all Soft tires to save the Hard for today.
However, the – serious – error of evaluation made by a team of Toyota’s caliber is surprising. The team probably expected a much less ferocious surface with the tires than what turned out to be today, but everyone else knew well how difficult it would be to tackle the 29 kilometers of the Maria de las Cruces.
Good morning for Gregoire Munster, author of a good sixth place in SS9 which gives him seventh in the general classification. More difficult morning for the other rookie at the wheel of a Rally1 car, Alberto Heller, who lost two positions in the general classification, finishing the morning lap in tenth place.
The two contenders for first position in WRC2 were placed in front of him, with Oliver Solberg managing to manage the tires in the final test and hold on to the lead. Sami Pajari, who had focused heavily on SS9 regarding the choice of tires (obviously with the hard ones), returned to 16.7 seconds behind the category leader after having been overtaken in the first special stage of the day due to serious visibility difficulties due to the dust.
The morning lap of the second stage of the Chile Rally ends here. Now the drivers will be able to fix their cars at the mid-day service and choose the tires for the afternoon lap which will always take place on the same three tests. The SS10, i.e. the Chivilingo 2 of 27.19 kilometres, will start at 19:57 Italian time.
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