Rally Chile: Solberg guida Evans dopo una prima giornata scivolosa

Solberg in testa dopo un avvio fangoso

Il Toyota GAZOO Racing World Rally Team ha chiuso il primo giorno di Rally Chile con Oliver Solberg in testa e Elfyn Evans a 10,1 secondi. Le prove del venerdì, ripetute tre volte su tratti stretti di foresta e strade agricole, sono state condizionate dalla pioggia caduta nella notte, che ha trasformato i tracciati in passaggi scivolosi e fangosi.

Come si è svolta la giornata

Giovedì, lo shakedown pre-evento si era svolto su strade asciutte e polverose, ma le condizioni sono cambiate nella notte. Senza lo svantaggio tipico di chi apre la strada, il leader del campionato Evans ha beneficiato della posizione iniziale e, insieme a Solberg, ha conquistato una vittoria di manche ciascuno nella mattinata. I due si sono scambiati la leadership più volte, con Solberg che ha concluso la mattinata con un margine di 2,3s.

Nella seconda parte della giornata, con l’asciugarsi progressivo dei tracciati e la presenza di maggior ghiaia libera, Evans ha perso terreno e Solberg ha allungato fino a +10,1s assestandosi al comando dopo aver vinto la speciale finale del giorno.

Prestazioni e dichiarazioni dal team

Juha Kankkunen, Deputy Team Principal, ha commentato: “It has been a good start to the rally for us overall. We were happy to see that the rain that was in the forecast did indeed arrive last night and that’s probably helped us a bit with most of our cars running at the front of the road. Oliver and Elfyn both drove very well in the slippery conditions this morning, and continued in that way this afternoon even as it was drying out a bit. Seb and Sami lost a bit of time this morning, but they were much stronger in the afternoon and are in a good fight with Fourmaux. Taka was a bit unfortunate to get stuck this morning, but the car is good to restart tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans (car 33) ha aggiunto: “For us it was nice to see the rain come overnight, even though it made the conditions quite tricky for everyone to start with this morning. The grip levels were changing quite a bit, so I was happy to get through without issues and also benefit a little bit from not having to sweep the road. We had drier conditions this afternoon; the grip was more consistent in a way and the feeling was OK, but we were maybe not quite as fast as we would have liked. Anyway, second is a decent position to be in overnight and gives us a good road postion for tomorrow, so we have to take the positives from today and try to keep fighting forward tomorrow.”

Sébastien Ogier (car 1) ha detto: “For us the rain was maybe not ideal given our start position a bit further back, but it’s also a deserved break for the championship leaders not to always be cleaning the road. We struggled in the first stage for grip and confidence with the balance of the car, and that’s where we lost most of our time today, but after that I think we reacted well and had a better rhythm over the rest of the day. Tomorrow has a different style of stage with some different challenges and there’s still a lot to play for, so we’ll keep trying.”

Oliver Solberg (car 99) ha commentato: “I’m very happy with my day. It helped us in our position relatively early on the road to get that rain; I think it made things more equal and I always enjoy those kinds of conditions. It was very tricky and changing all the time, and we just tried to have a good flow and I think we did quite a good job. There was no point to take big risks and I was just trying to drive efficiently. It was similar this afternoon even as the conditions dried out; I just tried to keep it clean and steady. It’s nice to have a good, clean Friday behind us. Strategy will be important tomorrow, but I feel good and I’m looking forward to it.”

Incidente e ritiro

Takamoto Katsuta è uscito largo nella speciale di apertura e si è incastrato su un bank, impedendo il proseguimento della sua prova; il pilota ha comunque confermato che la vettura è in condizione di ripartire per la giornata successiva. Il pilota del TGR WRC Challenge Program Yuki Yamamoto, impegnato nella categoria WRC2 e al suo primo Rally Chile, è stato coinvolto in un incidente in SS6 e insieme al co-driver Topi Luhtinen è stato trasportato in ospedale per accertamenti.

Takamoto Katsuta (car 18) ha detto: “After the rain overnight, the roads were quite muddy in places this morning and the grip levels were changing a lot along with the different gravel types. Unfortunately, in one downhill corner which was quite muddy, I just wasn’t able to slow down enough and we went wide to the outside and got stuck on the bank. The car was not really damaged, but we weren’t able to get back on the road and continue in the stage. It’s not an easy moment, but I will just try to focus on coming back stronger.”

Classifica al termine del giorno 1

• 1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 52m42.1s
• 2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +10.1s
• 3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +18.0s
• 4 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +19.7s
• 5 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +21.7s
• 6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +27.4s
• 7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m54.5s
• 8 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m56.9s
• 9 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m06.0s
• 10 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +3m08.7s
• TBC Takamoto Katsuta/James Fulton (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)

Cosa aspettarsi domani

Il programma di sabato è il più lungo del rally: 139,2 km divisi in due giri di tre speciali a sud di Concepción, attraverso la vallata del Biobío e con tratti che dominano l’Oceano Pacifico. Rispetto a venerdì, queste prove sono normalmente più larghe e più abrasive. Il confronto tra piloti e la gestione delle gomme e della strategia saranno fattori chiave per la seconda giornata.

(Risultati aggiornati alle 17:30 di venerdì; per gli aggiornamenti consultare wrc.com)