Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn EVans remain the only contenders for the 2023 WRC Drivers’ title and already in the Chile Rally Shakedown they began to challenge each other.
The Welshman from Toyota Racing achieved the best time on the 5.75 kilometer track called Bio Bio, ahead of teammate and rival Kalle Rovanpera by half a second.
Both title contenders achieved their best time in the second of the three laps made, inflicting significant gaps on all the rest of the drivers at the wheel of a hybrid Rally1 car.
Surprisingly, the third time was achieved by Pierre-Louis Loubet, at the wheel of the first of the four Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrids entered in the event. The Frenchman from M-Sport was 1.1 seconds behind Evans, but was 2 tenths quicker than Teemu Suninen.
The Finn, Hyundai’s third driver this weekend, is the first in the standings of the three fielded by the Alzenau team, because Thierry Neuville did not go beyond the sixth fastest time, 1″7 behind Evans. Between the two there is the third and last Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, the one entrusted to Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston.
Ott Tanak, whose future is the subject of discussions over the course of these days, set the seventh fastest time, four tenths slower than Neuville but almost 2 seconds faster than Esapekka Lappi, last of the Hyundai drivers.
Important debut at the wheel of a Rally1 (the third Ford Puma) for Gregoire Munster, ninth in the Shakedown but author of a good progression in the times set in the 4 laps this afternoon. His best time, achieved on the last of the 4 laps, was just 1.2 seconds slower than Lappi’s reference time preceding him.
Alberto Heller was less incisive, at the wheel of the fourth and final Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid. Compared to Minster, the 29-year-old Chilean did worse by 3 seconds flat in the fourth of his 5 passes.
As for the Rally2 cars, excellent times for Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hamalainen with the Hyundai i20 N Rally2. The Finnish crew beat Gus Greensmith’s Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 by just under 2 seconds. Oliver Solberg, also on Skoda, stopped in third place, 8 tenths behind the former M-Sport driver.
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