Esapekka Lappi was fastest from Mārtiņš Sesks on an intriguing Rally Chile shakedown stage where several Rally1 drivers opted not to run at their full pace.
At over four miles, Chile’s Conuco shakedown test was longer than at most World Rally Championship rounds but, according to championship leader Thierry Neuville, was “not very representative” of the competitive stages to come.
The stage conditions were rough, and with the rally itself tipped to be even more abrasive than it was last year, tire saving was the name of the game for several competitors.
Frenchmen Sébastien Ogier and Adrien Fourmaux were two such drivers on the first pass, with the latter’s M-Sport team-mate, Grégoire Munster, letting the cat out of the bag: “We need to keep in mind we need some tires for the weekend.”
Ogier was a man of few words – potentially in response to the suspended €30,000 fine he was handed for comments made in Greece – and simply said at the end of the first run: “All good.”
Tänak meanwhile had something very interesting to say, seemingly standing strong with Ogier.
“Quite interesting times at the moment, not sure how much we can say,” he said. “But still living the dream and enjoying to drive the cars.”
Aside from all the speculation, the returning world champion Kalle Rovanperä laid down a marker as he outpaced everyone by 3.2 seconds on the first pass.
Lappi suffered a huge accident in Chile last year, but has started better this time around
“Quite tricky condition to be honest, a lot of loose gravel – hopefully it’s not that much in the rally,” Rovanperä said. “We need to try and get the car a bit better in this kind of condition, but everything was still fine so let’s see how it goes.”
However after the second pass, it was fellow Finn Lappi who jumped to the top of the times and that’s where he would remain in his Hyundai – blitzing everyone to the tune of 5.6s after his fourth run.
After a huge crash on the first stage of last year’s Rally Chile, things can only go better for Lappi in 2024.
“For sure it’s a challenging event,” he said. “Tire management is really important, so let’s see. I hope we can enjoy as much as we did before the last corner [of the first stage] last year!”
Despite driving without a hybrid unit, Sesks was a superb second fastest on what could be a defining event in the Latvian’s career. Yet again, he was loving the chance to drive a Rally1 car.
“It’s so fast!” he said. “The acceleration is so much you’re your eyes… you’re dizzy from the first kilometers, really!
“Rich [Millener] thought that I had to make good stage-end interviews so that’s one of the things, then he said if you are feeling good in the car we can drive faster!”
Sesks’ fellow Rally1 newcomer Sami Pajari, competing in Chile in place of Takamoto Katsuta, was third fastest for Toyota – a mere 0.4s adrift of the Latvian.
“It’s still my second time only with this car,” Pajari cautioned, “so I think there is anyway enough challenge but I’m trying to enjoy it, and that’s the main plan.”
Rovanperä ended up fourth fastest ahead of Tänak, Elfyn Evans and Neuville who stated he “knows what we have to do” in light of his strong 34-point championship lead with three rounds remaining.
Munster was “disturbed” on his first run of shakedown with a drivers’ side door that flapped open, but his best effort was enough to be eighth fastest ahead of the cautious Ogier and Fourmaux.
Nikolay Gryazin was the quickest WRC2 driver on shakedown on a weekend where Oliver Solberg can become champion.
If he wins Rally Chile he will claim the championship, but the Škoda driver was a minute off the pace on shakedown as he chose to drive at an extremely conservative pace.
“I drove the whole stage in road mode because I need tires for the rally, so it was a pretty pointless shakedown for us unfortunately,” Solberg said.
Addressing the championship situation, he added: “I’m a little bit nervous of course, I have to say it’s a big weekend, but I just have to do like normal and it probably should be fine.”
