Thierry Neuville reminded the WRC paddock of his class on SS3 Hualqui. The Hyundai driver surged to the fastest time, stealing the spotlight from Oliver Solberg who had dominated the morning.
Solberg, impressive from the start, seemed set to secure the best time on Hualqui. But Neuville had other ideas. He pushed to the absolute limit, beating Solberg by 1.9 seconds. At one point, Neuville was almost five seconds ahead in the splits, before surrendering some of that advantage towards the end.
The stage win lifted Neuville two places to fourth overall. "When it is rutted, I can trust the car much more. There was a little bit more consistent grip. When there are no ruts, I go all over the place," Neuville explained.
Meanwhile, Solberg had to settle for second-fastest, but that was enough to put him in the Rally Chile lead with a 2.3-second advantage over his Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans. Solberg beat Evans by 2.7 seconds on Hualqui. "I’m happy with the clean morning. I’m happy the rain came, as otherwise Ogier would have been dangerous," Solberg said.
Adrien Fourmaux of Hyundai remains third, but Neuville has closed right in on the Frenchman. Ogier is fifth behind Neuville, ahead of Sami Pajari. Pajari lost 6.3 seconds to Neuville on Hualqui. "It was much muddier than I expected, so it was not easy. I think we did quite an okay job. The time is decent, but we should be even quicker," Pajari said.
Esapekka Lappi of Hyundai was completely at sea during Friday morning’s three-stage loop. The Finnish driver is already almost a minute and a half off the lead and sits only ninth.
Three more stages will be contested at Rally Chile on Friday. The event concludes on Sunday. The battle at the top is heating up, and Neuville is clearly not finished yet.
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