Thanks to the right tyre choice, Ott Tänak pulls clear of his pursuers at Rally Chile on Saturday morning, while Elfyn Evans drops back
M-Sport driver Ott Tänak (Ford) clearly extended his lead at the Rally Chile, the eleventh round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), on the three special stages (SS) on Saturday morning (local time). In contrast to many of his competitors, Tänak opted for the harder tyre compound and was right on the money.
While the competition slipped over the last special stage of the morning with worn tyres, Tänak drove almost 20 seconds faster than his pursuers and took the lead. After nine of 16 special stages, his lead over Teemu Suninen (Hyundai) is already 47.8 seconds. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) is third, 1m 03.0s behind Tänak.
Especially for Elfyn Evans (Toyota) the choice of the soft tyre compound took its revenge. After the Welshman had improved to second place on the first stage of the day, he suffered two punctures on the rear axle on the last stage of the morning, lost almost a minute to Tänak and dropped back to fourth overall.
World championship leader Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) was also without a chance on the last special stage of the morning with worn soft tyres and lost around 45 seconds to Tänak, but remains in fifth place overall. “Our plan this morning was way too optimistic and that was not good for the tyres,” Rovanperä admits.
Sixth is still Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota), who is sporting in no-man’s land, more than a minute behind Rovanperä and 52.8 seconds ahead of seventh-placed Gergoire Munster (Ford).
The battle for the lead in the WRC2 class remains exciting, with Oliver Solberg (Skoda) 16.7 seconds ahead of his brand colleague Sami Pajari. In the overall standings, the two are in eighth and ninth place, with local hero Alberto Heller (Ford) completing the top 10.
In the afternoon (local time), the three stages over a total of 77 kilometres will be run again before four more special stages are scheduled on the final day of the Rally Chile 2023.
