Oliver Solberg leads Rally Chile by 2.3 seconds over Elfyn Evans at the first service break, with fellow World Rally Championship contender Sami Pajari in sixth.
Expected overnight rain arrived in time for Friday’s first three stages, leaving them damp and full of puddles in places.
That worked in the favor of championship leader Evans, who faced the best of the stage conditions rather than the worst.
However his Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg, starting third on the road, made the brightest start by winning the opening stage. Evans then replied with a stage win of his own on SS2, earning him a rally lead of 0.4s.
Continuing the trend, Solberg beat Evans on the third and final stage of the loop to move back into the lead by 2.3s.
“It’s a new day for everyone [with reversed stages so] that helps for me first time in the car,” Solberg said, “but very sketchy conditions, so you’ve just got to be confident to have a decent flow but not push too hard.
“I’m happy it rained because otherwise Ogier at the back could have been dangerous. It’ll still be tricky this afternoon I think, but happy with a clean morning.”
Evans got away with a wild moment over a jump on SS3 and completed a strong morning, considering his closest title rival Pajari ended the loop 20.7s in sixth and feeling like he should have been quicker.
“Obviously I was happy to see that rain after so many dry rallies,” said Evans. “It’s an OK start but a lot to go in this rally.”
Adrien Fourmaux had a “technical issue” on the second stage but is nevertheless third after three stages, 2.7s ahead of Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville who climbed two places with a 1.9s stage win on SS3.
Fourmaux is 17.7s behind Solberg’s rally lead with Neuville 20.4s adrift,
“When it’s rutted I can trust the car much more,” Neuville explained.
“When there are no ruts I’m all over the place, the car doesn’t go where I want. When it’s rutted I just stay in the ruts and it’s like running on rails.”
S̩bastien Ogier completes the top five, just half a second behind fellow world champion Neuville after setting only the sixth fastest on the particularly challenging SS1 Рblighted by road position and also an incorrect setup.
“Not an ideal start for us,” Ogier lamented.
Pajari is 2.1s behind Ogier in sixth and 23s off the lead, with a chasm of time opening behind the winner of the last three WRC rounds.
Josh McErlean is the closest to Pajari, 51.3s behind, with M-Sport team-mate Jon Armstrong – who chose two spares for the loop in his bid to finish the day without issues – 4.8s adrift.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi is another 8.7s adrift, struggling for pace and surviving a hit against a bank on SS2 after taking the wrong line over a crest.
Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta was the morning’s biggest loser, retiring less than four miles onto the opening stage when he clipped a bank with the rear-right which pulled his Toyota in and left him stuck.
