Kalle Rovanperä heads Rally Chile Biobío from team-mate Elfyn Evans after dense fog engulfed Saturday afternoon’s stages, turning the battle for victory on its head.
The two-time winner of the FIA World Rally Championship will start Sunday’s final leg with a lead of 15.1s over his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid team-mate Evans, benefiting in part from the tricky weather conditions that reshaped the leaderboard.
Evans had been in commanding form earlier in the day, winning three of the morning’s four stages to build a 13.6s cushion. But his advantage evaporated on the penultimate Lota test, where dense fog descended in the mountains, reducing visibility to near zero.
As the last of the top runners on the road, Evans bore the brunt of the deteriorating conditions and slowed his pace to a crawl at times. Rovanperä, in contrast, stormed into the lead with a time more than 20 seconds faster before extending the gap in similarly treacherous conditions on the final stage of the day, María Las Cruces.
Ott Tänak holds third, trailing Evans by 18.5s after a day of high drama which also saw Sébastien Ogier bow out of contention. The Frenchman’s bid for a ninth FIA WRC title was dealt a hefty blow when he struck a rock on SS8 which broke a bolt on his Toyota’s steering arm.
“They were really difficult conditions,” said Rovanperä. “Huge fog, and some of the most challenging stages of the year, I think. I have never done anything like this, it’s crazy. You drive and you are just trying to stay on the road – it’s a big challenge.”
Evans, still hunting his first WRC win since Japan last November, was understandably disappointed to lose the lead but acknowledged there was little he could do. “I couldn’t see past the bonnet,” he revealed. “It was crazy.”
Behind Tänak, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville mounted a strong comeback and climbed from sixth on Friday to finish the day 43.7s off the lead in fourth. While the Belgian is now unlikely to wrap up his maiden drivers’ title this weekend, he remains well-placed to do so on next month’s Central European Rally, barring any major setbacks.
Adrien Fourmaux also made good progress, moving from eighth to fifth in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid. Hampered by a one-minute time penalty on Friday, the Frenchman charged past team-mate Grégoire Munster and Toyota rookie Sami Pajari, who ended the day in sixth and seventh respectively.
It was another tough day for Esapekka Lappi. Already off the pace, the Finn’s troubles deepened when he picked up a two-minute time penalty for clocking in early for SS11. Having damaged the front of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid this morning, he finished Saturday a distant eighth overall, while FIA WRC2 frontrunners Nikolay Gryazin and Gus Greensmith rounded out the top 10. Oliver Solberg, who had led the Rally2-based category, dropped back after he was forced to change a damaged tyre on SS11. Diego Domínguez leads FIA WRC3 in a Ford Fiesta Rally3.
Located south of Concepción, the event-deciding leg three features two repeated and modified stages – Laraquete and Bio Bio – over a competitive distance of 54.80 kilometres. The rerun of Bio Bio, where the Rally Village is also located, forms the Wolf Stage with the action due to begin at 13:00 hrs local time.