RALLY CHILE, ACCORDING TO RECCE SATURDAY THE MOST DIFFICULT DAY OF THE RACE DUE TO INCREASED GROUND ABRASIVENESS AND TYRE WEAR
Friday and Sunday characterised by softer and sandier surfaces with medium and low stress for the tyres; Saturday decidedly more demanding with very abrasive surfaces and very pronounced tyre wear. This, in short, is the picture of the Rally Chile that emerges from the analysis of Pirelli engineers after reconnaissance at the start of the week.
According to the analysis, the gravel roads in the Bio Bio region are generally fast and with numerous ups and downs, but with quite different characteristics from stage to stage, with a prevalence of compact or medium-compact terrain even if there is no shortage of soft gravel sections, as well as those covered in mud or with bed-rocks.
It is no coincidence that all the WRC1 drivers, with the exception of Alberto Heller, have chosen 12 Scorpion Hard tyres to go with the 24 Soft tyres, which are the prime in this race.
TYRE STRATEGY
Given the conditions, the low risk of tyre damage and the progression of the abrasiveness of the terrain a possible tyre strategy could be to always go out with a spare and an increasing number of hards from Friday afternoon through to Saturday afternoon, unlike Friday and Sunday mornings when softs alone may be sufficient. In particular, dry conditions are expected on Saturday which, together with the abrasiveness of the road surface and the consequent greater wear of the tyres, further reinforce the hypothesis of the massive use of hard tyres, which have been specially developed for conditions like these, in which they have always ensured reliability and consistency for the drivers. On Saturday morning, however, the full soft option or the hard-soft combination remain valid.
MAIN DATA AT A GLANCE
Ambient temperatures: generally low with fairly small fluctuations, with a minimum of 12 degrees and a maximum of 19
Ground temperatures: generally higher than ambient, ranging from 14 to 22 degrees, with the maximum expected for SS 12, Maria de las Cruces
Surface types: ranging from compact gravel to medium-soft, with sometimes muddy, sometimes rocky sections
Surface abrasiveness: generally medium to high
Grip level: generally medium to medium-high, especially on Saturdays
Risk of tyre damage: in Pirelli engineers' classification, which uses a scale of 1 to 5, the Chile Rally gets a rating of 2.5, equal to that of Estonia and Finland.
Tyre stress&wear: the most demanding stages are Maria de las Cruces and Rio Lia on Saturday, which present very high levels of both wear and tyre fatigue
Most demanding section: stage 4, the second stages on Saturday afternoon
Most demanding special stages: the rating of most stages is low to medium (2/5 or 3/5) with the exception of the Saturday stages, all of which are rated 4/5 or higher
Below the analysis tables day by day, in detail and the tyre allocation table, driver by driver
PIRELLI TYRES IN CHILE
Scorpion KX WRC which in the soft SA compound version are the optimum solution for a race on more slippery surfaces, being designed to ensure grip even in the most difficult conditions and on wet terrain in a balanced way to ensure performance and endurance. The hard HA compound version is the option and is suitable for the most abrasive surfaces and the longest trials.
As for the other categories, in Chile the Rally2 cars will have Scorpion K6B (soft) and K4B (hard) tyres available, while the Rally3 cars have K6A (soft) and K4A (hard). For these cars, the allocations are 22 and 8 tyres for the prime and option respectively, to which must be added a set for the shakedown.