The third day of Rally Chile BioBio has come to an end. Ott Tänak retained the rally lead amid tire issues for all drivers.
SS7, Chivilingo 1
Kalle Rovanperä opened up the day with a stage win. With Rovanperä posting a time 1.6 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to take his first stage win of the weekend. Elfyn Evans finished with the third fastest time on the stage, 1.1 seconds slower than Tänak. Teemu Suninen set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 9.3 seconds slower than Evans. Thierry Neuville rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 3.7 seconds slower than Suninen.
SS8, Rio Lia 1
Ott Tänak took home his first stage win of the day on the eighth stage of Rally Chile BioBio. With Tänak setting a time 6.8 seconds faster than Elfyn Evans to win the stage. Thierry Neuville finished third fastest on the stage, 6.8 seconds slower than Evans. Teemu Suninen posted the fourth fastest time on the stage, 3.9 seconds slower than Neuville. Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.6 seconds slower than Suninen.
SS9, Maria De Las Cruces 1
Ott Tänak also took the stage win on SS9. Posting a time 7.6 seconds faster than Thierry Neuville to win the stage. Teemu Suninen finished third fastest on the stage, 8.1 seconds slower than Neuville. WRC2 driver Nikolay Gryazin set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 25.9 seconds slower than Suninen. WRC2 driver Yohan Rossel rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.8 seconds slower than Gryazin.
SS10, Chivilingo 2
Kalle Rovanperä took home the stage win on the 10th stage of Rally Chile BioBio. Setting a time 2.4 seconds faster than Elfyn Evans to win the stage. Thierry Neuville finished third quickest on the stage, 2.5 seconds slower than Evans. Teemu Suninen posted the fourth fastest time on the stage, 3.5 seconds slower than Neuville. Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.8 seconds slower than Suninen.
SS11, Rio Lia 2
Ott Tänak took home the stage win on SS11. Posting a time 2.8 seconds faster than Teemu Suninen to take the stage win. Elfyn Evans finished third fastest on the stage, 2.6 seconds slower than Suninen. Thierry Neuville set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 5.6 seconds slower than Evans. Kalle Rovanperä rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 1.5 seconds slower than Neuville.
*SS12, Maria De Las Cruces 2
Ott Tänak ended day three of Rally Chile BioBio with a stage win. With Tänak setting a time 7.8 seconds faster than Thierry Neuville to take the stage win. Elfyn Evans finished third fastest on the stage, 5 seconds slower than Neuville. Teemu Suninen posted the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 1 second slower than Evans. Kalle Rovanperä rounded out the top five on the stage, 27.5 seconds slower than Suninen. *Rovanperä may be awarded time due to getting stuck behind Grégoire Munster for part of the stage.
Tire Trouble For Toyota
Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers normally don’t face many reliability issues. However, day three of Rally Chile BioBio was a weird one. Sure the reliability issue wasn’t to do with the Toyota’s it was to do with the tires. The tire issue would cause both Rovanperä and Evans to lose time. Evans was hit harder by tires, however. Having a double puncture on SS9. Takamoto Katsuta wasn’t exempt from the tire issue. The Toyota drivers just haven’t seemed to preserve the tires well enough. The tire issue for Toyota seems to have stemmed from the drivers using all soft tires. Due to the amount of kilometres driven on the morning loop the soft tire compound wasn’t able to hold up through all three stages. Rovanperä had to take a safe approach to SS9, Evans and Takamoto Katsuta grinded their tires down to the rim.
Not Only A Toyota Issue
The issue with tires doesn’t seem to be just an issue for Toyota. As Thierry Neuville and Teemu Suninen have also reported issues with their tires. Neuville would say at the end of SS9 “It was the first good stage for me since the beginning of the weekend. There is lots of cleaning and the tires are quite hot, but I think I did quite well in there. Without the puncture this morning, we could have had a perfect loop.” Even the M-Sport drivers have been having issues, Heller ended SS9 with just a rim and rubber shrapnel. Munster had issues, as did Tänak. Tänak would say on SS7, “Extremely demanding. I was not sure if my tyre choice was correct, but now I think it’s okay. The road is so hard, it’s tough.” Tänak would switch to all hands for SS9. Regardless of tire issues for everyone else, it seemed as if the Toyota drivers got the harder end of the stick.