Kalle Rovanpera moved forward of Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans to steer Rally Chile as thick fog turned the struggle for the World Rally Championship victory on its head.
The reigning world champion began Saturday in third however emerged via treacherous climate and extremely poor visibility to go in a single day chief Evans by 15.1 seconds going into Sunday’s last 4 phases.
Rovanpera took the provisional 18 factors for topping Saturday’s classification as Evans scooped up 15 factors.
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak’s tyre gamble didn’t repay as he dropped to 3rd, 33.6s adrift (13 factors) whereas championship chief Thierry Neuville hauled himself into the struggle in fourth [+43.7s, 10 points].
M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux ended the day in fifth [+1m23.0s] forward of Toyota younger gun Sami Pajari [+1m49.5s] and the second full-time M-Sport entry pushed by Gregoire Munster [+1m50.6s], with Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi a distant eighth [+5m14.6s].
Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier retired from ninth place after hitting a rock within the morning’s stage eight, whereas M-Sport’s Martins Sesks accomplished the six phases after rejoining the rally following a double puncture on Friday.
Chile’s abrasive phases coupled with unpredictable climate made tyre alternative extremely troublesome to name for the crews.
Rally chief Evans, Rovanpera, Neuville and Lappi opted for 4 hards and two softs within the hope rain would possibly arrive whereas Tanak, Munster, Fourmaux and Sesks plumped for six hards.
Stage 10 (Pelun, 15.65km), the primary of the afternoon loop, was devoid of any rain and was a lot drier than the primary go however there have been patches of fog.
Evans triumphed within the first go of the mountainous stage and repeated the feat within the afternoon. The rally chief was 2.3s quicker than Rovanpera to increase his benefit over his team-mate to 13.6s.
Rovanpera was, nevertheless, slightly involved over his tyre alternative, stating: “It’s actually arduous to inform how briskly to go on the downhill as you don’t need to kill the tyres. We’ve two arduous tyres with us once more so we hope that works for us.”
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Group Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photograph by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport
Tanak was third quickest, 3.3s adrift, 1.5s faster than Neuville. There was a place change behind as Fourmaux climbed forward of his team-mate Munster into sixth total.
The problem stage went up one other notch in stage 11 (Lota, 25.64km) as thick fog blanketed the center part of the stage lowering visibility to twenty metres in locations. This was sandwiched by a dry part in the beginning and a moist and muddy last half.
The stage proved to be a turning level within the rally because the fog turned more and more thick after every go.
Munster described the scenario as “driving blind” whereas Evans mentioned “he couldn’t see past his bonnet” as he suffered the worst of the circumstances.
Consequently, Evans was lowered to a crawl within the fog shedding 24.1s and the rally lead within the course of.
“I don’t understand how you are supposed to rally in these circumstances,” mentioned a pissed off Evans on the stage finish as he dropped 5.5s behind new rally chief Rovanpera.
Rovanpera emerged because the star of the stage as he someway managed to cope with the poor visibility to lose solely 5 seconds to eventual stage winner Neuville.
“It was actually unhealthy, I don’t assume I’ve ever pushed in that sort of situation in a rally automobile,” mentioned Rovanpera.
Neuville seemingly benefited from working via the stage barely sooner than his rivals. The Belgian began the stage 53.6s off the lead however ended the take a look at solely 35s adrift and 14.2s behind third-placed Tanak.
M-Sport duo Fourmaux and Munster climbed to fifth and sixth total as they leapfrogged a cautious Pajari, who selected to again off within the fog and dropped to seventh.
Lappi turned additional adrift of the Rally1 pack in eighth after mistakenly checking into the stage early, leading to a two-minute penalty.
The stage was later pink flagged as circumstances worsened.
The fog eased for stage 12 (Maria las Cruces, 28.31km), however the rain then arrived, benefiting those who had taken mushy tyres.
Fourmaux took the stage win by 0.8s from Rovanpera, who managed to maximise his two mushy tyres to increase his rally lead.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photograph by: Toyota Racing
Evans felt he lacked dedication throughout his run as he noticed the deficit to his team-mate increase to fifteen.1s.
Tanak was left much more pissed off given the group’s climate prediction led him to decide on arduous tyres that proved to be the improper compound.
“They are saying no rain anticipated this night – clearly it was utterly improper info,” mentioned Tanak. “All the pieces is troublesome on this life, nonetheless it is advisable to be on it.”
Elsewhere, Pajari managed to recuperate sixth total from Munster after pipping the Ford driver by 5 seconds.
Oliver Solberg’s hopes of sealing the WRC2 title suffered a blow when he stopped to vary a wheel within the foggy stage 11. That dropped the Swede from the category result in fourth behind Nikolay Gryazin, Gus Greensmith and Yohan Rossel.
4 phases await the crews on Sunday to conclude Rally Chile.
