The second stage of the Chile Rally opened with several new features. Elfyn Evans won SS7, the 15.65 kilometer Pelun 1, strengthening her first position in the general classification against Ott Tanak.
Last night the Estonian from Hyundai Motorsport had finished in the lead, but Evans’ set time had been revised and this, in fact, had brought the Welshman back to the top of the general classification of the event.
With the result of SS7, Evans now has a 7.1″ lead over Tanak in the fight where he is now the hare from being a chaser. A bad blow for the 2019 world champion, because he sees important points to keep alive disappear – at least temporarily. the fight for the Drivers’ world title.
Another bad news for Tanak is the fifth place in the overall achieved by Thierry Neuville. The Belgian, fifth in qualifying but very close to the leaders, took advantage of a poor performance by Gregoire Munster to recover the 19 seconds that separated him from fifth place and claw his way into the position.
This is good news for the World Championship leader in view of the two most demanding tests for the tyres, cars and crews of the entire rally. Furthermore, now Neuville could decide to try to attack fourth place, now in the hands of Sami Pajari. Between the two there are 11″3 in favor of the Finn, but the difficulty of the stages could also open up this scenario.
Worth noting is the inconvenience that led Esapekka Lappi to lose the front bumper, grille and front headlights in one fell swoop due to a collision in a cut. The i20 N Rally1 number 4 arrived at the finish line of the test with the radiator and all its components in plain sight, no longer repaired by the bodywork. For Lappi, this is no small problem, because he won’t even be able to benefit from the help of aerodynamics.
Sébastien Ogier continues to push hard, with the specific intent of recovering positions in the general classification following the puncture that caused him to lose almost two minutes yesterday. Now the Frenchman is 17″5 behind Adrien Fourmaux, who precedes him in eighth place.
Everything changes in WRC2 too, with Yohan Rossel putting in a great performance and now leading the event in the category. The Citroen Racing driver defeated the competition, moving ahead of everyone with a 1″3 advantage over his teammate and former class leader Nikolay Gryazin, for an all-Citroen double. Oliver Solberg, however, is in contact with the two, so much so that he was 3 seconds from second place and 4.3 seconds from first.
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