Adrien Fourmaux leads Rally Chile by just one second after Friday’s leg, as Hyundai team-mate Ott Tänak retired with an engine issue.
Tänak had built himself a solid 9.7s advantage after five stages but parked up on the final test of the day with what Hyundai confirmed to be an engine problem after a reported 3G impact.
That turned the rally on its head, with the top-three now separated by just 2.3 seconds.
Fourmaux heads that pack, keeping his team-mate Thierry Neuville at bay. Sébastien Ogier leads Toyota’s charge in third.
“I can only be pleased because I think it’s the first time we are leading the rally at the end of the first day, so it’s positive for us,” Fourmaux said.
“It’s a shame for Ott, I’m sorry for him. It’s a shame for the team as it would have been nice to be 1-2-3 tonight, but tomorrow is going to be another day.”
Fourmaux leads but just 2.3s cover the overnight top-three
Neuville completed a mega turnaround compared to the morning, where a drivetrain switch after shakedown (due to reliability concerns) had badly compromised his i20’s handling.
On stages that were cleaning, and with the old part fitted, the world champion was far more competitive to climb from fifth to second.
“Way better afternoon but still far from good honestly,” he analyzed. “Conditions are cleaning and when it’s a clean line I can drive the car, but when it’s loose there’s just no trust.”
Ogier too suffered an off-beat start in Chile, choosing a different (and he felt incorrect) setup compared to his Toyota team-mates. But he is now the leading world championship contender as road cleaning dumped Evans from first at service to fifth, and Tänak and Kalle Rovanperä (hit a bank and debeaded a tire in the morning) had their problems.
Sami Pajari is fourth, winning his first WRC stage outside of his native Finland on SS4 but feeling he should have pushed his tires harder across the loop. His deficit to leader Fourmaux is 11.2s, with Evans 1.3s behind.
Takamoto Katsuta suffered with a lack of experience, having missed Chile last year, and generally struggled to feel confident in his Toyota, but avoiding trouble rewarded him with sixth place overnight – 8.8s ahead of Grégoire Munster.
Rovanperä is eighth, 15.2s adrift of Munster, while Josh McErlean had a day to forget with an SS1 spin that ripped off his front bumper, and then a rear puncture to conclude Friday.
Oliver Solberg is on course to claim the WRC2 title in Chile, leading the category by 10.4s overnight over title rival Nikolay Gryazin.
Yohan Rossel and Gus Greensmith’s title chances took huge hits on Friday afternoon, as an oil leak after an impact forced Rossel’s Citroën out while the engine in Greensmith’s Škoda gave up on SS5.
