Lappi damaged his car on the opening stage of Saturday, SS7. Nearly the entire front end of his car was ripped off after he took a cutting section too aggressively.
“We slid wide in the beginning on the muddy corner, just soft gravel took the bumper away. It was tricky to see, it stayed in front of me and turned up. I saw a cut and used that to rip it off,” Lappi explained at the stage end.
Lappi also lost time due to the incident, now trailing the leaders by 53.3 seconds. However, he still holds seventh place in the rally.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans set the fastest time on the 16-kilometre-long Pelun stage, narrowly beating his teammate Sebastien Ogier by just 0.9 seconds.
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä clocked the third-fastest time, 1.4 seconds behind Evans.
“I would say that the stages today are bit better for me, so feeling is bit better. let’s see if we can find some pace, but it’s not going to be easy,” Rovanperä commented.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak was fourth fastest, 4.1 seconds behind Ogier’s benchmark time.
In the overall standings, Evans extended his lead over Tänak to 7.1 seconds. Rovanperä remains in third place, now 11.5 seconds off the lead. Toyota’s Sami Pajari holds an impressive fourth place (+26.3), and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville is fifth (+37.6).
Rally Chile has five more stages to run on Saturday, with the event concluding on Sunday.
Rally Chile standings after SS7/16:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | 1:08.38.9 |
| 2. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +7.1 |
| 3. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +11.5 |
| 4. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +26.3 |
| 5. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +37.6 |
| 6. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +41.1 |
| 7. | Esapekka Lappi | Hyundai | +53.3 |
| 8. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +1:11.3 |
| 9. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +1:28.8 |
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
