WRC | Rally Chile, PS4: delaminated tire for Lappi. Tanak second

Sébastien Ogier doesn’t fit. Despite the mistake in the test that concluded the morning lap at the Chile Rally, the 8-time world champion even increased his pace, now aware that he no longer had anything to lose.

The champion from Gap won the Special Test 4, the Pulperia 2 of 19.72 kilometres, also in this case placing very heavy gaps on everyone. Only Ott Tanak managed to keep his delay under 6 seconds. All the others, starting with Elfyn Evans, third, are more than 10 seconds behind the Frenchman from Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Ogier, thanks to this performance, has already regained the Top 10. He is ninth, preceded by more than a minute by Esapekka Lappi. The Hyundai Motorsport Finn was slowed down by a delaminated tyre, the right rear (it was Soft) which gave way while the Finn was on a straight. This led him to lose almost half a minute to the best.

Thanks to the second place in qualifying, however, Tanak gained second position in the general classification of the event, also taking advantage of an error by Kalle Rovanpera. The reigning two-time world champion made a mistake in the central sector of the special, ending up having to go back in the right direction. This cost him 15.8 seconds from the best and second place.

An excellent Adrien Fourmaux instead earns two. The Frenchman from M-Sport, after a quiet start, put in a good performance in the early Chilean afternoon, overtaking both his teammate Gregoire Munster and Sami Pajari in one fell swoop.

Sixth time in the special stage for Thierry Neuville, who continues to struggle in opening today’s practice, complaining of very low grip. But it’s normal, because not only does he have to clean the surface, but he also finds himself having to find the right set-up, having chosen to race this afternoon with 2 spare wheels versus the sole choice of almost all his rivals.

However, this was a prudent choice to avoid retiring as happened to Martins Sesks at the end of SS3 due to being left without at least 4 intact tires due to a double puncture.