At the end of the final day of Rally Chile, Ott Tanak takes a dominant win there with Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans following him.
Ott Tanak is the winner of Rally Chile which made its return back to WRC since 2019 and this is this second time winning this event. He was managing his lead since Saturday afternoon and was able to deliver the second victory of the season for M-Sport Ford as it has been eight months since the Malcolm Wilson's team was at the highest place of the podium.
Thierry Neuville gained one place after Teemu Suninen's retirement and finished in second place overall while he was trying to catch his teammate on the classification, but at the same time to defend his position over Elfyn Evans. The Belgian was the fastest driver on the first three stages of Sunday.
Elfyn Evans completes the podium, but he was not able to match Neuville's pace today. However, the most important thing for his is that he finished ahead of his championship rival, Kalle Rovanpera, but the Welshman took four points in PS.
The reigning WRC Champion is fourth overall at the end of Rally Chile and his championship lead was decreased by two points. He was the fastest driver in Powerstage again and scored the five bonus points for his championship fight.
Takamoto Katsuta does the 3-4-5 for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT and is another top five finish for him this season.
Gregoire Munster and Alberto Heller finished outside the top ten on their WRC debuts with the Ford Puma Rally1. The Luxembourger driver lost the brakes of his car in Stage 15 and had to use the handbrake.
Teemu Suninen was in second place overall and was ahead of Thierry Neuville for 6,8 seconds after the end of Stage 14, but he slid off the road 7 Km into SS15 resulting in retiring. From a video, it is obvious that the front right suspension was broken due to a tree stump before his going off the road.
Toyota is the 2023 WRC Manufacturer Champion as Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera scored six points more than Hyundai in Powerstage which means that the Japaneseteam outscored their rivals for more than 13 points.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch the overall classification after the end of Rally Chile:
Photo Credits: M-Sport
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