Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera secured victory at Rally Chile on Sunday, mastering dense fog and treacherous situations (above) to clinch his fourth win of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship season.
Driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, the two-time and reigning WRC champ edged out his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Elfyn Evans by 23.4s, mastering the more and more tough and damp gravel roads throughout Chile’s Bio Bio area.
Rovanpera made a cautious begin to the eleventh spherical of the season, admitting that the Chilean gravel didn’t swimsuit his driving type on Friday’s opening leg. However because the rally progressed, discovered his rhythm. The turning level got here on Saturday afternoon when he overhauled Evans in near-zero visibility, navigating by means of thick fog excessive up the mountain levels to grab a 15.1s lead heading into the quick ultimate leg.
The 23-year-old Finn, who’s taking up solely a part-time marketing campaign in 2024 to recharge his rallying batteries, remained unflappable in equally tough situations on Sunday, outpacing Evans on all however one of many ultimate 4 levels to safe the fifteenth victory of his WRC profession.
“It feels actually good,” stated Rovanpera. “Massive because of the group — the automotive and all the pieces labored completely. The win really looks like an excellent one, however Friday didn’t really feel so good and the situations had been actually tough all weekend, so, sure, it feels actually good.”
Kalle Rovanpera has began solely seven 2024 WRC rounds for Toyota, however he and co-driver Jonne Halttunen have now gained 4 of them with their first Rally Chile victory. Toyota GAZOO Racing WRT
Hyundai Motorsport’s Ott Tanak accomplished the rostrum, trailing Evans by 20.5s in his i20 N Rally1. Regardless of the Estonian’s podium, Hyundai misplaced floor within the WRC producers’ championship, with Toyota lowering the hole to only 17 factors, courtesy of Rovanpera and Evans’ masterful performances and third manufacturing unit entry Sebastien Ogier’s essential Tremendous Sunday most factors haul.
Championship chief Thierry Neuville loved a comparatively drama-free run to fourth in his manufacturing unit i20 N Rally1, a outcome which strikes him even nearer to a primary drivers’ title as he tops the desk by 29 factors with simply two rounds remaining. Neuville, a five-time runner-up within the WRC standings, can afford to lose a handful of factors to each Evans and Ogier at subsequent month’s Central European Rally and nonetheless elevate the title there, offering he outscores teammate Tanak.
Fourth in Chile for Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville units up a possible title-clincher on subsequent month’s Central European Rally. Jaanus Ree/Crimson Bull Content material Pool
Whereas Ogier salvaged each level out there from Tremendous Sunday, his hopes for a ninth WRC title now seem slim. The Frenchman, who had the pace to problem for victory, retired his Toyota on Saturday with suspension harm after putting a rock and rejoined on Sunday purely to placed on a cost and mop up the factors on provide.
Adrien Fourmaux was M-Sport Ford’s high finisher in fifth, trailing Neuville by 1m1.6s. The Frenchman’s outcome might have been even stronger had it not been for a one-minute penalty incurred for a late check-in in his Puma Rally1 on Friday.
Toyota’s rising star Sami Pajari impressed by ending sixth on simply his second Rally1 outing, whereas Fourmaux’s M-Sport Ford teammate Gregoire Munster adopted intently behind in seventh.
Esapekka Lappi had been on the right track to complete eighth, however was pressured to retire on the penultimate stage after a spin broken his Hyundai’s radiator. The retirement additionally marked the conclusion of Lappi’s co-driver Janne Ferm’s distinguished WRC profession after 90 begins, two wins and 15 podiums.
In WRC2, the second tier of worldwide rallying, Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin’s 1-2 end secured DG Sport Competitors the 2024 WRC2 groups’ title.
Simply 17.3s separated the Citroen C3 Rally2 pair. Frenchman Rossel was given a late benefit on Saturday evening when occasion stewards awarded him a corrected time for Saturday’s penultimate stage, the place he was held up behind WRC2 factors chief Oliver Solberg, and he started Sunday’s ultimate leg holding a 21.6s lead.
Nonetheless, Rossel’s buffer steadily eroded as Gryazin closed in on Sunday’s 4 levels. A ten-second time penalty for a soar begin solely added to the strain, however Rossel saved his composure by means of the thick fog and treacherously muddy roads to assert victory. His win retains his title hopes within the WRC2 drivers’ title alive.
Solberg, who had led earlier within the rally earlier than struggling a pricey wheel change on Saturday, might solely handle fourth in school. The Toksport Skoda Fabia RS driver has now accomplished the utmost seven occasions allowed in WRC2, and though he at the moment leads the standings, the Swede must wait anxiously for the ultimate two rounds to see whether or not Rossel or Sami Pajari, again in his WRC2 Yaris subsequent day out, can overhaul him for the title.
Citroen C3 driver Yohan Rossel’s WRC2 win retains his championship hopes alive within the WRC’s second-tier class. McKlein/Motorsport Photos
The WRC returns to Europe for its penultimate spherical, the Central European Rally, Oct. 17-20. Primarily based out of the south-east German metropolis of Dangerous Griessbach, the occasion will take crews on a a number of border-crossing journey on all-asphalt levels spanning Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.
WRC Rally Chile, ultimate positions after Leg Three, SS16
1 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h58m59.8s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +23.4s
3 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +43.9s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m01.1s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria Ford Puma Rally1) +2m02.7s
6 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m39.7s
7 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m47.7s
8 Yohan Rossel/Florian Barral Citroen C3 – WRC2 winner) +8m31.4s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +8m48.7s
10 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +8m52.1s
WRC Drivers’ Championship after 11 of 13 rounds
1 Neuville 207 factors
2 Tanak 178
3 Ogier 166
4 Evans 161
5 Fourmaux 140
WRC Producers’ Championship after 11 of 13 rounds
1 Hyundai Motorsport 482 factors
2 Toyota Gazoo Racing 465
3 M-Sport Ford 245
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