Tänak edges Evans for slender WRC Chile lead

It was a day of contrasting fortunes for the Estonian, who has won every WRC round previously held in Chile. Tänak struggled in the morning, sitting fifth at lunchtime after grappling with a lack of confidence and balance in his Hyundai i20 Rally1 HYBRID during the first pass of the three gravel stages south of Concepción. However, set-up tweaks at service rejuvenated his performance and helped him to overhaul Toyota rival Elfyn Evans on the penultimate Rere stage to claim the overnight lead.

Despite Tänak’s strong afternoon, Sébastien Ogier appeared the most potent throughout day one. The Frenchman won three stages and would have led the rally by almost 30 seconds had he not run wide and hit a bank on SS3, forcing him to stop and change a wheel.

Tänak was encouraged by the afternoon turnaround and remains poised to close the points gap to his championship-leading team-mate, Thierry Neuville, who ended down in sixth.

Evans, who has been slow out of the blocks on recent events, delivered a more aggressive start in Chile but struggled with confidence on the afternoon loop, admitting:
“I’m a bit lost with the feeling, in all honesty. It’s not feeling natural at the moment.”

Two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä completed the top three, 6.7sec adrift of Evans in his GR Yaris Rally1 HYBRID, though he too voiced frustrations after overshooting and hitting a gate on SS4.

“I don’t feel comfortable on these roads,” Rovanperä explained. “When it’s dry like this, it doesn’t suit my usual driving style. I’m fighting the car and my driving a lot.”

Back at the event where he made his top-tier debut last year, Grégoire Munster put in his best performance of the season, but tyre damage on the final stage saw him drop to fifth behind Toyota rookie Sami Pajari. Just 1.4sec separated the pair at day’s end, with Pajari trailing Rovanperä by only 2.2sec.

For Munster’s M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 team-mates, it was a more challenging day. Mārtiņš Sesks retired his non-hybrid car in the morning after hitting a bank and damaging two tyres while only carrying one spare wheel. Adrien Fourmaux fell from fourth to eighth after incurring a one-minute time penalty for arriving late to SS5. The delay stemmed from roadside repairs, first to his alternator and then to a water pipe.

Championship leader Neuville ended the day sixth, over half a minute off the pace. Opening the road, he struggled with loose conditions but still led team-mate Esapekka Lappi by 5.8sec.

“There wasn’t much more I could do,” Neuville admitted, while Lappi described his performance as “a disaster of a day.”

Fourmaux brought his Puma home in eighth, just ahead of Ogier, while WRC2 leader Nikolay Gryazin rounded out the top 10.

Saturday will be a true test of endurance and tyre management, with six stages totalling nearly 140km on the itinerary.