Oliver Solberg leads Rally Chile into the final day with Sébastien Ogier pressuring Elfyn Evans for second.
The top four – Solberg, Evans, Adrien Fourmaux and Ogier – could barely be split across the morning loop on Saturday.
Solberg and Evans set exactly the same time after the three stages, with Fourmaux just 0.1s slower and Ogier another 0.2s back.
That left Solberg in the lead by 10.1s with Ogier trailing third-placed Fourmaux by 1.9s.
Ogier, however, turned the screw in the afternoon.
Overhauling Fourmaux on the first stage out of service (just as he had in the morning) Fourmaux’s game plan was to take the time back on SS12 – the longest stage of the event.
Ogier is hunting down Evans for second
Picking three soft compound tires and just one hard, the gamble backfired as Fourmaux leaked 8.2s to Ogier on the test, ending the day 10.7s behind – not helped by front splitter damage to his Hyundai.
“It’s very big nightmare to work with those tires to be fair,” said a frustrated Fourmaux. “There was no abrasiveness in Paraguay and the tires were just exploding, and here it’s like a cheese wrap.”
Fourmaux wasn’t the only driver fighting Ogier, with championship leader Evans suddenly under pressure too – starting the final stage of the day a mere 0.3s ahead.
But Evans responded to Ogier’s advances, pipping his team-mate by a second on SS12 to head into Sunday 1.3s ahead.
“I can’t be fully satisfied with the afternoon, we’d have hoped to be faster,” Evans surmised.
Rally leader Solberg meanwhile saved his best until last: winning the stage by 3.7s to lead the rally by 19.1s overnight – making all of the time up in the final downhill section.
“That’s the key: every time, every year, the last four years it’s been the same,” Solberg said.
“The first stage tomorrow is extremely difficult, but at least we’ve got a small gap now which is very nice. For the championship’s sake I need to do my classic powerstage and Sunday don’t I? So I’ll do my best.”
Sami Pajari lies in no man’s land in fifth position, 44.4s down on fourth-placed Fourmaux and over a minute off the lead.
Esapekka Lappi is sixth for Hyundai ahead of M-Sport’s Josh McErlean and WRC2 leader Yohan Rossel, who scorched to a 58s advantage over championship leader Robert Virves.
