RALLY CHILE, ROVANPERA BACK TO WINNING WAYS IN A RALLY RUN IN VERY TOUGH CONDITIONS
Cold, fog and slippery surfaces the biggest challenges for the drivers
The WRC1 and WRC2 titles are still up for grabs
Testoni: “The softs pass the final test, dealing with the lowest temperatures on gravel in recent years”
The Pirelli engineers and others had predicted this would be a very tough rally, as indeed it was in previous years. And according to those predictions, Saturday would be the decisive and hardest day, featuring the longest stage. In fact, the 2024 Rally Chile proved these predictions to be true and then some, providing a series of twists and turns at the front of the field, in both WRC1 and WRC2 where the titles are yet to be decided. Stamping his authority on the rally in the blue riband category was Kalle Rovanpera in his Toyota. He took the lead on SS11 on Saturday afternoon, while coming out on top among the Rally2 drivers was Yohan Rossel and his Citroen C3, who profited from the misfortune that befell Oliver Solberg, again in SS11.
Super Sunday was dominated by Sebastien Ogier, whose overall position was badly affected by incidents in SS3 and SS8.
After three days of close competition and spectacular action, in which fog and rain played their part, the outcome of the top two classes is still to be decided. Thiery Neuville and Hyundai (fourth behind Elfyn Evans and Ott Tanak) still lead the drivers’ and constructors’ in WRC1, while Solberg (also fourth in Chile) heads the WRC2 category.
THE CHALLENGE
As expected, given the nature of the fast, technical and slippery cambered Chilean gravel roads, the choice and management of the tyres, especially the combination of the soft (the prime on this event) and the hard, played a major role, giving the crews plenty to think about as they had to change their plans due to rain and fog that arrived as from the second half of the first day. As from Friday afternoon, the teams went with different strategies, the biggest differences being seen on Saturday afternoon, at which point the outcome was effectively decided in weather that was worse than usual with temperatures dropping. The choice of mixing 4 hard and 2 soft proved the most popular, as used by Rovanpera who took command as of SS11 and Neuville who was fastest of all through the thick fog in that stage, thus making up several places in the general classification. The choice to go with the hard tyre (6) worked well for Adrien Fourmaux, quickest in the final SS12, which was run in the rain. On Sunday morning, when it was even colder, everyone inevitably went just with the soft, the only difference being the number of spares, which in the case of that day’s champion, Ogier, was just the one.
PIRELLI QUOTE
Terenzio Testoni, Rally Activity Manager: “This rally was really very significant for us. On Sunday morning, we saw the coldest temperatures ever recorded in recent seasons for a gravel rally and I’d say that the 2024 evolution of the soft tyre passed yet another test, the final one, with flying colours. The severe weather surprised the teams but they were still able to manage the situation well, thanks to the versatility of the soft Scorpion. On the other days, the hard tyres also came into play and confirmed their reliability. Overall, we witnessed a really interesting rally with plenty of drama, which leaves the outcome of the world championship still hanging in the balance.”
Here is a graphic summary of Rally Chile
