This week the World Rally Championship returns to Chile for the first time since 2019, and the 2023 event has a very different look to the rally won by Ott Tänak four years ago.
While the action is still based around Concepción, the route is almost completely new, with only one stage shared with the 2019 itinerary.
Following Kalle Rovanperä’s maximum points haul in Greece, Elfyn Evans is approaching the last-chance saloon if he wants to halt his team-mate’s charge towards a second title. With no Andreas Mikkelsen in the WRC2 field, his rivals also need to capitalize on his absence to keep their own title hopes alive.
It’s shaping up to be a critical weekend for both championships. Here are all the details:
Entry breakdown
Total 55 crews
10 Rally1 crews
22 Rally2 crews (19 WRC2)
2 Rally3 crews
Rally1
For the second rally in a row, 10 Rally1 cars will drive over the start ramp.
Toyota is back to its regular three-car entry of Kalle Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans and Rally Chile’s 2019 WRC2 winner, Takamoto Katsuta.
M-Sport meanwhile will field no less than four Puma Rally1s. Grégoire Munster will make his debut in top-level hybrid machinery thanks to backing from Jourdan Serderidis. The fourth Puma will be piloted by local driver Alberto Heller and his Argentinian co-driver Ernesto Luis Allende.
Hyundai, like Toyota, will field three cars, with Teemu Suninen getting the nod for this one over Dani Sordo.
WRC2
While the WRC2 entry for Chile is not as strong as it was in Greece, there should still be plenty of action with 19 cars registered. As Mikkelsen will not be there to defend his points lead, second-placed Yohan Rossel will lead the field away.
Fellow championship hopefuls Sami Pajari and Gus Greensmith are also present, and Kajetan Kajetanowicz will make only his fifth appearance of the season. His championship chances might look distant going into Chile, but his selective approach to events could put the Pole in the thick of the fight come the end of the season.
Oliver Solberg and Emil Lindholm’s championship aspirations may be over but they will still be looking to turn the heads of the watching Rally1 team bosses. Mads Østberg is also on the entry in his Citröen C3 Rally2, but he will not compete in WRC2.
WRC3
The WRC3 entry for this weekend is a little light with just two contenders.
Paraguayan Diego Domínguez Jr, who won Junior WRC in Greece, leads the two-car battle, and he will face-off against Eduardo Castro, who made his WRC3 debut at the Lamia-based event.
Both will pilot Ford Fiesta Rally3s, as the M-Sport car continues to dominate the still relatively fledgling category.
Itinerary
The route for this year’s Rally Chile looks very different to the last time the WRC circus visited the west of South America. The rally this year comprises 16 stages totaling almost 200 miles.
The action kicks off on Friday morning with the 12.3-mile Pulperia test, with all of the day’s stages focused on roads to the south-west of the host city of Concepción. The 8.3 miles of Rere and 14.5 miles of Rio Clara make up the remainder of the morning loop, which is repeated after a 30-minute lunchtime service.
Saturday is the longest of the three days, with 95.7 miles across another six stages. This is where the crews will enjoy some familiarity, with Rio Lia making up the second stage of each loop and running largely as it did in 2019.
Maria de las Cruces is the longest stage of the rally at just over 18 miles and uses some of the same roads as in 2019, but is around three miles longer than it was when the teams last visited. That one will end both of Saturday’s loops.
For Sunday, there are just four stages. These are also new for 2023, with the 8.6 miles of El Poñen making up the powerstage – will Kalle Rovanperä score yet another maximum on that one?
