[WRC]: Review of the Copec Rally Chile 2019.
Hello! It's time to look into the world of autosport, and there it was hot this weekend. After a short two-week break, the World Rally Championship went to the track in Chile, which debuts on the championship calendar this season. What can be said about this route, although its route is laid not far from Argentina, the conditions here are completely different. Winding roads with hard surfaces and slippery loose gravel run mostly through forests and at times resemble stages in Wales or Australia. There are also many bridges without railings, ditches, as well as fences and pillars near the road. All this should make life more difficult for pilots. Well, now directly to the rally.
On Friday, the life of the pilots was complicated by the thick morning fog, and then the bright sunlight breaking through the tops of the trees. All this did not prevent Ott Tanak from taking the lead already on the first day of the races; he won three of the six speed tests. Sebastien Ogier, who finished the day the second, was kept at a distance of 6 seconds from first place. In the afternoon, on drier roads, he used the best settings of his Citroen C3. I got used to the new conditions and the championship leader Thierry Neuville, the Belgian finished the day third. The Toyota team showed good results on the first day of the rally, and two more pilots of this team were in the top five: this is Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke, they were separated for 15 seconds. Participating at this stage rally Sebastien Loeb completed the first day of the seventh.
Saturday sections of the route made adjustments to the balance of power of the championship. Ott Tanak coolly restraining Sebastian Ogier throughout the day remained in first place at the end of the second day. The Frenchman at the end of the day behind by 34 seconds from the first place. Championship leader Thierry Neuville after a terrible accident off the track.
The pilots did not get injured. His place was taken by another pilot Toyota Jari-Matti Latvala, but a good day the Finn was upset by the breakdown of the propeller shaft after hitting the rock at the final stage of the day. Sebastien Loeb on his Hyundai was the fastest racer of the day winning two stages and approaching the top three at a distance of 50 seconds. Elfyn Evans finished Saturday's top 5 by more than 20 seconds behind Sebastien Loeb. Briton lacked confidence in the high-speed sections. Kris Meeke once again went out of the fight for glasses breaking his Toyota Yaris after hitting the stump, the rest of the day he had to drive without a windshield.
On Sunday, Ott Tanak secured his leadership throughout the race by winning the Rally Chile. Estonians did not stop the winding foggy forest trails on the way to the second victory of the season. He had everything under control throughout the rally stage, he quickly responded to changes in the course and scored maximum bonus points. This victory led him to second place in the overall ranking of pilots, lagging 10 points behind the new championship leader Sebastian Ogier. The Frenchman finished in 23 seconds from the first place and thanks to a meeting of Thierry Neuville on Saturday, taking the second place he took the lead. Nevertheless, the Belgian is only two points away from second place and all three leaders now have two wins each. The third place in the Chilean Rally was taken by Sebastien Loeb, who throughout Sunday stayed at a distance of 1 second from Ogier, but in the end fell behind by 7.1 seconds. The fourth and fifth place was taken by the racers of the M-Sport team, who just needed to get to the finish line, they were more than two minutes apart, and a minute before the top three.
May 30 is waiting for us the next stage in Portugal.
Photos taken from the official WRC www.wrc.com
Video taken from YouTube channel WRC
