The afternoon lap of the second stage of the Chile Rally was a melina, just to use football jargon, which lasted until SS12, the last of the lap and of the day, in which all the drivers set fire to the powder and exploited every little millimeter of tread on their tires to try to make a difference and benefit.
In the special where everything could have changed – like the first lap again on the Maria de las Cruces – nothing changed. Ott Tanak won the test with a time of 17’20″5, 7″8 faster than the first of his rivals, Thierry Neuville.
Thanks to this result, the Estonian from M-Sport achieved his second success of the season after triumphing on the snow of Sweden last February. The margin over Teemu Suninen, the first pursuer in the general classification, has risen to 58″3. All the others are over a minute away.
If Tanak’s success in Chile is no longer in question, the story is different regarding the duel for second place involving Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans. The Welshman from Toyota Racing tried in every way to get close to the Belgian in SS10 and SS11, but asked too much of his tyres.
Neuville, however, managed them perfectly and when he saw his margin over his rival reduce, he was aware that he could then widen it again in the last race. And so it was.
Neuville did better than Evans on SS12 by a margin of 5 seconds. This means that tomorrow the two will start 10.7 seconds behind and Evans will be called upon to do a feat, because in just under 24 hours it will be Neuville who will have a more advantageous starting position in practice.
Kalle Rovanpera instead had to deal with the dust kicked up by Gregoire Munster, who ran most of the test on the long SS12 – a few hundred meters ahead of him. The Dutchman made a mistake at the start of the stage, ruining a tyre. At that point he decided not to stop and replace her, letting Takamoto Katsuta pass once he got close, but not Rovanpera. With this inconvenience, Munster lost the Top 10.
The reigning world champion, also due to Evans’ fourth place, could be satisfied with his placing: if things remain the same tomorrow, it would be enough to take another step towards the second world title of his career.
An anonymous race day for Takamoto Katsuta, like yesterday. The Japanese driver from Toyota Racing is sixth overall, but over 4 minutes behind Tanak and over a minute and a half behind Rovanpera who precedes him.
Everything changes, once again, in WRC2. Oliver Solberg finished in first place on a day that initially seemed like Sami Pajari could smile again. The young Finn from the TokSport team struggled beyond what was necessary in a situation similar to that experienced by Rovanpera on SS12, with poor visibility reigning supreme.
The Norwegian, however, regained the top spot after losing it yesterday and built a lead of 25″3 over the first of his pursuers, his brand mate and TokSport team driver, Gus Greensmith. Third place for Pajari, 18″ behind 6 by the British ex-M-Sport driver.
The second stage of the Chile Rally ends here. The race will resume tomorrow with the 13.20 kilometer Special Stage 13 Las Pataguas 1. The first car will enter the special at 1.07pm Italian time.
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