Returning to the wheel of his Toyota after a short break, Kalle Rovanperä was in superb form during the first run of the shakedown. Rovanperä posted a clearly fastest time, beating second-placed Martins Sesks by 3.2 seconds on the opening run.
“Quite tricky conditions, to be honest. A lot of loose gravel, hopefully there won’t be as much during the rally,” reported Rovanperä, who had a better starting position than the other top drivers in the WRC on the first run.
“Certainly, it’s nice to be back. We need to get the car a bit better for these kinds of conditions, but everything was still fine. So let’s see how it goes,” the Finnish star added.
Latvian driver Martins Sesks is competing for the third time in the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 car. His car does not have a hybrid unit, but the pace was there, at least on the first shakedown run.
Sesks’s reaction was priceless when he heard about his second-place time.
“I haven’t been in this car for more than a month,” the Latvian sensation marvelled.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans finished third on the first run of the shakedown, ahead of his teammate Sami Pajari, who is competing in the Toyota Rally1 car for the second time. Pajari was five seconds off Rovanperä’s fastest time.
Pajari was all smiles early in the morning.
“Why wouldn’t I smile in this situation?” Pajari responded to the interviewer with a question of his own.
The shakedown for Rally Chile is still ongoing. The competition will get underway in full on Friday, with six stages scheduled.
First run results from Rally Chile shakedown:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | 3:22.1 |
| 2. | Martins Sesks | Ford | 3:25.3 |
| 3. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | 3:26.3 |
| 4. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | 3:27.1 |
| 5. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | 3:27.2 |
| 6. | Esapekka Lappi | Hyundai | 3:28.8 |
| 7. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | 3:28.9 |
| 8. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | 3:32.0 |
| 9. | Nikolay Gryazin | Citroen | 3:37.2 |
| 10. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | 3:37.6 |
