Oliver Solberg’s Rally Chile lead remains exactly the same after Saturday morning’s stages as it did at the start of the day – standing at 10.1 seconds over Elfyn Evans.
Saturday morning proved to be a dramatic loop as Thierry Neuville crashed out in top gear on the opening stage of the day while Jon Armstrong rolling onto his side on the next; finishing the stage but retiring on the road section.
At the top of the leaderboard there was less drama, although Solberg struggled to find the same pace and rhythm as on Friday on the looser stages.
That allowed Evans to close to 7.2s behind after eight stages, only for Solberg to win the final stage of the loop by 2.9s, rebuilding his lead to 10.1s.
There was more movement behind, as reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier stole third place from fellow Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux on the day’s opening test.
Fourmaux wasn’t concerned however, having gone for a different tire strategy than his rivals – choosing part worns on Friday afternoon so that he could have fresher tires for Saturday afternoon.
The Hyundai driver beat Ogier by 6.1s on SS9 to move back ahead by 1.9s, with a deficit to rally leader Solberg of 18.1s.
“We are still third, so that’s OK,” Fourmaux smiled.
World Rally Championship contender Sami Pajari has lost touch with the leading quartet on Saturday morning, fading to 30.5s behind Ogier and 50.5s off the lead.
Pajari survived a scary slide on SS8 when he ran out of road, but bounced back onto the stage.
“We are in a tricky position,” Pajari said. “We should try to push but I’m not quite having the feeling with the grip and with the car and everything. It’s not the best, but we just need to try to work on some things and make it even better.”
Josh McErlean suffered a rear-left puncture on SS7 which he suspected also damaged a damper, with the car sliding strangely through corners.
While McErlean gained a place because of Neuville’s exit, his puncture cost him position to the other Hyundai of Esapekka Lappi – meaning he maintained the seventh position he started the day with.
WRC2 leader Nikolay Gryazin crashed out on the day’s opening stage, opening the door for Lancia team-mate Yohan Rossel.
Rossel started Saturday behind Škoda’s Robert Virves but leapt ahead on SS7 and holds a 32.3s advantage halfway through the day.
