Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Group are celebrating a most rating on a difficult Rally Chile. Yesterday (29 September) Kalle Rovanperä claimed victory forward of team-mate Elfyn Evans.
Along with the general one-two, TGR-WRT additionally locked out the highest three locations within the separate Tremendous Sunday classification and posted the quickest two instances within the rally-ending Energy Stage.
This makes them the primary workforce to safe the utmost potential haul of 55 producers’ factors underneath the brand new system launched for 2024. They’re doing all they’ll to maintain their championship ambitions alive, decreasing the hole to the lead from 35 to 17 factors with two rounds remaining.
Sunday’s remaining loop of 4 phases introduced a continuation of the demanding situations skilled on Saturday within the mountains of the Biobío area to the south of host metropolis Concepción, the place Rovanperä took the lead from Evans in heavy fog.
Sébastien Ogier was working first on the street, restarting the rally following harm to his automotive on Saturday morning. He seized the chance introduced by the damp situations to set the tempo, successful each one of many final 4 phases.
Rovanperä had entered the ultimate day 15.1 seconds forward of Evans, a bonus that he prolonged in the course of the morning’s first two assessments. In an exhilarating end to the Energy Stage, he was simply 0.1 seconds slower than Ogier as he clinched his fourth win of the season together with co-driver Jonne Halttunen.
Rovanperä’s 15th win with TGR-WRT attracts him degree with fellow two-time champion Carlos Sainz because the drivers who’ve achieved probably the most FIA World Rally Championship victories for Toyota.
Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin made made the rostrum for the fifth time this season, having claimed the rally lead on Friday morning and holding it till they confronted the worst of the fog on Saturday afternoon. They took third on Tremendous Sunday and fifth on the Energy Stage.
Each Ogier and Evans stay in mathematical rivalry for the drivers’ championship going into the final two rounds of the season with 60 factors nonetheless up for grabs.
Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen completed in sixth place of their second occasion in a GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid. Constructing on their robust debut at Rally Finland, they made a powerful begin on Friday, ending the day simply 12.2 seconds from the lead in fourth place. When situations then grew to become tougher, Pajari demonstrated a mature method to give attention to gaining useful expertise and cleanly reaching the end.
Pajari can have an extra probability so as to add to his Rally1 expertise on the following occasion on the Central European Rally. He retains an opportunity of successful the WRC2 championship title on the season-ending occasion in Japan.
Group Quotes
Jari-Matti Latvala (Group Principal): “It is a nice end result for our workforce. An ideal Sunday for the primary time this season feels good, particularly after the devastating blows we took on the ultimate days of the previous two occasions. Our drivers did an impressive job right now pushing till the tip of the final stage. This end result will enhance the entire workforce and provides them additional motivation for the 2 remaining occasions. Kalle and Elfyn each drove effectively the entire weekend and both would have deserved to win the rally. Seb posted fast instances on each stage he ran and because of his pace and preventing spirit right now, we take away essential factors for the producers’ championship. Lastly, Sami did precisely what we have been searching for this weekend, driving persistently and bringing the automotive house with a mature efficiency, gaining increasingly expertise. So, all in all, it has been a optimistic rally for us.”
Kalle Rovanperä (driver automotive 69): “ It was a troublesome weekend and it at all times feels good if you’ve needed to combat for a victory. It wasn’t straightforward at any level with the climate and all the things, however we did job. On Friday I wasn’t feeling so snug, however we made it by with no massive errors. When situations grew to become tough we may make some massive gaps. It was vital to push right now as effectively and along with our team-mates we scored vital factors for the producers’ championship. A giant because of the workforce: the automotive was actually robust this weekend.”
Elfyn Evans (driver automotive 33): “It’s been weekend kind of from the begin to the tip. We confirmed some good efficiency and it’s a tremendous end result for the workforce. I’m completely satisfied to be part of that. The situations didn’t go in our favour yesterday, however Kalle did effectively with the technique and has pushed effectively, so congratulations to him. As we speak we had extra moist situations and fairly a little bit of fog round too, however we managed to get by cleanly with no points and nonetheless some respectable pace. The end result has actually helped within the producers’ championship, now we simply have to give attention to persevering with in the identical method till the tip of the yr.”
Sébastien Ogier (driver automotive 17): “It’s good to complete the weekend on a optimistic observe and assist the workforce to convey the producers’ championship again to life. I nonetheless really feel a bit disillusioned in myself and the pricey errors we made on the earlier days, as a result of we had wonderful pace and gained many of the phases we completed. However that’s not sufficient in rallying: you might want to put all of it collectively and we didn’t try this this weekend. I had numerous enjoyable driving the automotive and I need to thank the workforce for all their efforts bettering it, because it’s by no means felt so good on gravel. We’re getting in the proper path and we’ll carry on pushing as much as Rally Japan.”
Sami Pajari (driver automotive 5): “It’s very nice to succeed in the end of this rally. Thanks to the workforce, as a result of it has been such a pleasure to drive this nice automotive once more. Friday was fairly promising and we may present some tempo. Then there was numerous studying on the next two days with difficult situations however that’s a part of the sport. To get safely by the entire rally was the primary plan, so we should be proud of that and not less than we may present good tempo on among the phases. Now I can’t watch for Central European Rally which might be one other new problem with quite a bit to be taught.”
PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY CHILE
1 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) 2h58m59.8s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +23.4s
3 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +43.9s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +1m01.1s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +2m02.7s
6 Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2m39.7s
7 Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +2m47.7s
8 Yohan Rossel/Florian Barral (Citroën C3 Rally2) +8m31.4s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroën C3 Rally2) +8m48.7s
10 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +8m52.1s
36 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +1h27m03.1s
(Outcomes as of 16:00 on Sunday, for the most recent outcomes please go to www.wrc.com)
2024 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after spherical 11:
1 Thierry Neuville 207 factors
2 Ott Tänak 178
3 Sébastien Ogier 166
4 Elfyn Evans 161
5 Adrien Fourmaux 140
6 Kalle Rovanperä 114
7 Takamoto Katsuta 80
8 Dani Sordo 44
9 Sami Pajari 41
10 Esapekka Lappi 33
2024 FIA World Rally Championship for producers after spherical 11:
1 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Group 482 factors
2 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Group 465
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Group 245
What’s subsequent?
There’s a return to asphalt for the final two rounds of the season, starting with the Central European Rally on 17-20 October. First held in 2023, this cross-border occasion takes place on demanding roads in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria.
ENDS
