The second run of the Lotun stage was hit by thick fog at the mountain summit, worsening with each car that passed. Rovanperä navigated the foggy section better than the leading drivers and moved into the lead, 5.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Elfyn Evans.
“There was some really heavy fog. I’ve never driven a rally car in conditions like that. It was dangerous. You couldn’t see where the road was going at all. We definitely lost time in the forest too, as it was wet, and we had hard tyres,” Rovanperä explained.
Evans lost more than 20 seconds to Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville’s stage-winning time and also fell behind Rovanperä. The Welshman was frustrated by the conditions at the stage finish.
“I couldn’t see beyond the bonnet. It’s crazy,” Evans lamented.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak holds third place, 20.8 seconds behind the leader. Neuville is fourth but significantly closed the gap to Tänak. The Estonian still has a 14.2-second advantage over the Belgian.
“I don’t know what conditions the others had, so it’s hard to assess the situation. It was definitely tough,” Tänak commented.
M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux is fifth, ahead of his teammate Gregoire Munster. Toyota’s Sami Pajari lost two positions in the fog, explaining that he took a very cautious approach.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi’s challenging rally continued on SS11, where he received a two-minute time penalty for arriving at a time control at the wrong time.
“We got a two-minute time penalty, so there was no motivation to push and destroy the tyres. There was also a lot of fog on the mountain summit, so you couldn’t see anything,” Lappi summarised.
Drama also unfolded in WRC2 as Oliver Solberg had to change a tyre on stage. Citroen’s Nikolay Gryazin took over the class lead. A win in Chile could have secured Solberg the WRC2 championship, but now he is almost a minute and a half behind.
Solberg’s main challenger in the title race is Pajari, who is also competing in the next WRC round in a Rally1 car. Pajari is expected to drive his final WRC2 event in Japan in November.
One more stage remains on Saturday at Rally Chile, with the event concluding on Sunday.
Rally Chile standings after SS11/16:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | 2:07:56.2 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +5.5 |
| 3. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +20.8 |
| 4. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +35.0 |
| 5. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +1:23.8 |
| 6. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +1:27.1 |
| 7. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +1:31.7 |
| 8. | Esapekka Lappi | Hyundai | +4:42.9 |
| 9. | Nikolay Gryazin | Citroen | +5:28.8 |
| 10. | Gus Greensmith | Skoda | +5:45.2 |
| 11. | Yohan Rossel | Citroen | +6:00.1 |
Rally Chile itinerary (CET):
Thursday, 26 Sept: 13:31 Shakedown: Conuco (6.79 km) Friday, 27 Sept: 13:35 SS1: Pulperia 1 (19.72 km) 14:30 SS2: Rere 1 (13.34 km) 15:21 SS3: San Rosendo 1 (23.32 km) 18:11 Service (30 min) 19:46 SS4: Pulperia 2 (19.72 km) 20:41 SS5: Rere 2 (13.34 km) 21:32 SS6: San Rosendo 2 (23.32 km) Saturday, 28 Sept: 14:07 SS7: Pelun 1 (15.65 km) 15:01 SS8: Lota 1 (25.64 km) 16:05 SS9: Maria las Cruces 1 (28.31 km) 18:37 Service (30 min) 20:07 SS10: Pelun 2 (15.65 km) 21:01 SS11: Lota 2 (25.64 km) 22:05 SS12: Maria las Cruces 2 (28.31 km) Sunday, 29 Sept: 13:23 SS13: Laraquete 1 (18.62 km) 14:35 SS14: Bio Bio 1 (8.78 km) 15:35 SS15: Laraquete 2 (18.62 km) 18:15 SS16: Bio Bio 2 (8.78 km) Power Stage
