Oliver Solberg once again demonstrated his class at Rally Chile. On SS9, the 28-kilometre Maria las Cruces stage, the Toyota driver set the fastest time. He beat teammate Elfyn Evans by 2.9 seconds, restoring his lead to 10.1 seconds – exactly the same gap as before the morning loop.
“I’m happy. It felt horrendous. I tried to take care of the tyres at the beginning and push at the end. It was not a perfect morning but a clean morning,” Solberg explained. Evans admitted he struggled to judge his pace: “I felt it was very steady. I was having a lot of doubts coming to the end if I had gone too slowly. It was a clean run but very difficult to judge the pace.”
Behind them, Adrien Fourmaux of Hyundai moved up to third overall, edging Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier by 1.9 seconds. “I feel really good. It was quite a nice stage to drive, very flowing with a lot of corners. I was really enjoying the car. I feel confident in the car so that is good,” Fourmaux said. Ogier complained about the loose gravel: “It is very loose in there and there are less and less cars in front so it was expected.”
Sami Pajari had a tougher time. The Toyota driver could not join the fight for victory. His difficult road position cost him 17.3 seconds on the final stage of the morning loop. He now sits fifth overall, already 50.5 seconds off the lead. “It is not the best. We are in a tricky position. We should try to push but I’m not quite having the feeling with the grip and the car. We just need to try and work on some things and make it better,” Pajari said.
Meanwhile, Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi is sixth, already over three minutes down after a lacklustre Friday. Behind him, M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean trails by 42.1 seconds. Lancia driver Yohan Rossel leads the WRC2 class and sits eighth overall, just over half a minute ahead of Estonian Skoda driver Robert Virves.
Three more special stages will be contested in Chile on Saturday, before the rally concludes on Sunday. The battle at the front remains tight, but Solberg seems to have a comfortable margin. However, with Chile’s rough terrain, anything can still happen.
Baca Juga
Sami Pajari kehilangan 13,2 detik di SS8 Rally Chile 2026 setelah insiden di Lota. Ogier mendekat ke posisi kedua, sementara Solberg memimpin.
Jon Armstrong crash di Rally Chile meski sudah ambil pendekatan hati-hati. Pembalap M-Sport kecewa dan kehilangan waktu tujuh menit.
Thierry Neuville tersingkir dari Rally Chile setelah kecelakaan hebat di SS7. Sebastien Ogier catat waktu tercepat dan naik ke posisi ketiga klasemen sementara.
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