Esapekka Lappi has crashed out of Rally Chile on the opening stage.
The Hyundai driver hit something on the inside of the final corner of the Pulperia stage, and the impact immediately sent his car into a roll.
It then continued to roll down the straight to the finish but thankfully Lappi and co-driver Janne Ferm was confirmed to be uninjured and his car was not obstructing the way for the next drivers to come through.
M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tänak was fastest through by 2.1 seconds over Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen, with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans making it three different manufacturers in the top three.
Tänak’s team-mate Pierre-Louis Loubet was 7.4s off the pace in fourth, and championship leader Kalle Rovanperä was even further back as he dropped 10s and noted that the stage surface was very dry and therefore prone to making his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 slide around.
Thierry Neuville suffered from that issue even more in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1, saying he had no grip or confidence as he is already looking at a 12.3s gap to the top after just 19.77 kilometres of stage action. The South American rally is not one of Neuville’s favorites, as he rolled out of the event when it last appeared in the World Rally Championship back in 2019.
The stage marked the Rally1 debuts of Gregoire Munster and local driver Alberto Heller, both in Ford Puma Rally1s.
