Rally Chile: Day 3

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team is celebrating a maximum score on a challenging Rally Chile as Kalle Rovanperä claimed victory ahead of team-mate Elfyn Evans. In addition to its overall one-two, TGR-WRT also locked out the top three places in the separate Super Sunday classification and posted the fastest two times in the rally-ending Power Stage. It therefore becomes the first team to secure the maximum possible haul of 55 manufacturers’ points under the new system introduced for 2024 – doing all it can to maintain its championship ambitions with two rounds remaining and reducing the gap to the lead from 35 to 17 points. Sunday’s final loop of four stages brought a continuation of the demanding conditions experienced on Saturday in the mountains of the Biobío region to the south of host city Concepción, when Rovanperä took the lead from Evans in heavy fog. Running first on the road as he restarted following damage on Saturday morning, Sébastien Ogier seized the opportunity presented by the damp conditions to set the pace on the final day, winning every one of the last four stages together with co-driver Vincent Landais. Rovanperä had entered the final day with a lead of 15.1 seconds over Evans that he extended during the morning’s first two tests. In a thrilling finish to the Power Stage, he was just 0.1s slower than Ogier as he clinched his fourth win of the season along with co-driver Jonne Halttunen. Rovanperä’s 15th win together with TGR-WRT draws him level with fellow two-time champion Carlos Sainz as the drivers who have achieved the most FIA World Rally Championship victories for Toyota. Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin made a strong return to the podium for the fifth time this season, having claimed the rally lead on Friday morning and held it until they faced the worst of the fog on Saturday afternoon. They took third on Super Sunday and fifth on the Power Stage. Both Ogier and Evans remain in mathematical contention for the drivers’ championship