Ott Tänak is reportedly rejoining the Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT for the 2024 season. Find out more below.
After One Year
Tänak left Hyundai last offseason after competing with the team since 2020. Tänak’s departure from the team was pretty much known before it was announced. As he and teammate Thierry Neuville didn’t have the best relationship at the time. With the team heavily favoring Neuville, even when Tänak had a strong chance at winning the drivers championship. Tänak had made some comments to the media about the situation and mainly Neuville, although they did not directly mention Neuville. Regardless of the dispute, Tänak and Neuville still reportedly have loads of respect for each other. Tänak moved back to M-Sport after leaving Hyundai and that move hasn’t been the greatest. With the Puma Rally1 encountering many reliability issues throughout the season.
Why Is Tänak Rejoining Hyundai?
It’s no secret Hyundai’s i20 has reliability issues much like M-Sport Puma. However, Tänak is currently the most successful driver in that car. Winning 3 of the 5 events the car has won at. Tänak had a chance at winning last years championship until Hyundai chose to let Neuville win EKO Acropolis Rally Greece over Tänak. For Tänak rejoining Hyundai is almost a no-brainer if you look past the issues with Neuville and such. As joining Hyundai gives Tänak a chance at winning the championship. Sure the car won’t be suited to his driving style, that didn’t stop him last season, however. To be completely honest, being at M-Sport didn’t give Tänak much of a hope of winning the championship. Tänak proved this past weekend at Rally Chile BioBio that the Puma can win, but it takes a lot of luck. It is also worth mentioning the Hyundai Tänak left 18 months ago isn’t the same as it is now.
What This Means For Hyundai
Tänak rejoining the team gives Hyundai two top drivers again. The pairing of Tänak and Neuville worked well. You had two guys who could win rallies. Well, this is good as we have seen it can lead to issues, especially when the two drivers in question are fiercely competitive. Tänak is arguably the second-best driver in the championship currently behind Kalle Rovanperä. However, the gap between the two isn’t small. I mean we are talking about the guy who gave Rovanperä a run for his money last season, although that push by Tänak started just a bit too late. Having two top drivers gives Hyundai a strong chance at winning the manufacturers’ championship, something they did in 2019 and 2020. However, that also relies on Hyundai getting a car that actually works for a full event more than 50% of the time.
What Tänak’s Return Means For Lappi
Esapekka Lappi took over Tänak’s role in Hyundai after Tänak left. Lappi has done decently well this season. Tänak rejoining the team ultimately means Lappi won’t get a full-time drive with the team. That is unless Hyundai is getting the fourth car they are rumored to be getting. However, if they do get that fourth car it’ll likely be used to give a young driver seat time in a Rally1 car. For Lappi, it currently looks as if he will either split the third car with somebody, probably Teemu Suninen or look for another team to join. Lappi should stick with Hyundai if given the chance, however, there is reason to believe he’ll move. Lappi spent last season driving part-time for Toyota. However, he likely won’t rejoin Toyota. I suspect if he were to leave Hyundai he’ll join M-Sport, but why? If Lappi wants a full-time drive next season M-Sport is the place to do it. With M-Sport, Lappi would be the number one driver. Plus the team would be able to build the car around his wants and likes. For M-Sport it also makes sense. As Lappi won’t break the bank while giving them a decently good driver.
Rally Chile BioBio has come to an end. Oliver Solberg held on to take home his second win of the season.
Day One, Solberg Vs. Pajari
The first day of Rally Chile BioBio was a battle between Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari. Pajari would come out on top by day’s end, taking a 13.3-second lead over Solberg into the second day. For the rest of the class, it wasn’t the greatest day. Nikolay Gryazin ended the day third, 51.4 seconds behind Pajari.
Day Two, Solberg Takes Control
The second day of Rally Chile BioBio wasn’t as good as the first day. Sami Pajari lost his lead to Oliver Solberg on the first stage of the day. This came after Pajari got caught in the dust of a Rally1 car. Pajari was quick to regain the lead, taking it back on the fourth stage of the day. However, Pajari’s lead was short-lived, as Solberg regained the lead just two stages later. Solberg entered the final day of the event with a 25.3-second lead over Gus Greensmtih. Pajari fell to third, 43.9 seconds behind Solberg.
Day Three, Solberg Holds On
The third and final day went rather smoothly for Solberg. Despite attacks by both Greensmith and Pajari, Solberg maintained the lead. Solberg was able to finish the event with a 25.8-second lead over Greensmith. Sami Pajari maintained third. Local driver Jorge Martinez won the Powerstage, Solberg finished second and Greensmith third.
Championship Rundown
Shockingly Andreas Mikkelsen remains in the WRC2 championship lead after Rally Chile BioBio. Mikkelsen now only leads the championship by 4 points, however. With Yohan Rossel remaining second in the championship. Gus Greensmith also remains in the same position of third, now sitting just 5 points behind Rossel. Both Rossel and Greensmith have one round left to compete. Rally winner Oliver Solberg moves up to fourth in the championship. Solberg now sits 8 points behind Greensmith. Solberg’s season is over, however. Sami Pajari dropped to fifth in the championship, now sitting 5 points behind Solberg. Pajari’s season is also over.
Disappointing Event For Rossel, Greensmtih
Yohan Rossel and Gus Greensmith went into Rally Chile BioBio with a chance to take the championship lead. However, neither of them would move into the championship lead. As both drivers had a rough event. Greensmith managed to finish second overall, 25.8 seconds behind Solberg. Despite having a rough first day. Rossel also had a rough first day of the event. Ending the first day 7th in class. However, Rossel pushed back to finish the event 4th, 33.3 seconds behind Pajari. For the two drivers, it’s a disappointing event as their championship hopes are likely over.
Rally Argentina is reportedly close to securing a long-term WRC deal. Find out more about the potential deal below and when it could begin.
Wanting A WRC Return
Rally Argentina has been absent from the WRC calendar since 2019. The event has one of the longest histories in Rally. First joining the WRC in 1980, Rally Argentina was a staple on the WRC calendar up until 2019. The event would only miss 2 seasons in that period, 1995 and 2010. Sebastien Loeb has won Rally Argentina the most times, winning it a total of 8 times throughout his career. Only two active WRC drivers have won the event. Those drivers being Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak.
When Could Rally Argentina Make It’s WRC Return?
Rally Argentina will most likely return on the 2024 or 2025 WRC calendar. The 2024 WRC calendar hasn’t been revealed yet, however, it is believed the calendar is ready to be revealed. It had been previously reported that the calendar would be revealed at EKO Acropolis Rally Greece. Seeing as this article is being written just under a month after Greece took place, that didn’t happen. There’s a chance the event will appear on the 2024 calendar if everything works out for it. However, it’s more likely it’ll reappear on the 2025 calendar.
Where Would It Run?
The event would be run as one-half of a back-to-back trip to South America. With Rally Chile BioBio being the other half. This was done in 2019, when Rally Argentina ran at the end of April and then Rally Chile ran less than two weeks later in May. This seems like the most logical option for the WRC. As it cuts down on costs to transport the cars over twice.
However, finding the correct time frame for this would take a bit of moving things around. As of now the Croatia Rally and Vodafone Rally De Portugal run at that time. It’s not just as easy as saying push events back either. As events only have limited time to run, some may be able to move back a couple of weeks or months, while others may not be. It is possible one of the events could take place in early March. While the other takes place during the end of March this would allow the WRC to have the events go back to back while also making sure they don’t interfere with other events.
Rally Chile BioBio has come to an end. Ott Tänak took home a dominant win at the event. Winning by just over 40 seconds.
Day One
Day one of Rally Chile BioBio started with 6 special stages totalling 112.86 km. Ott Tänak picked up where he left off in Chile taking the first stage win of the weekend. However, his lead would be short-lived. As Elfyn Evans would take the lead on SS2. Evans maintained the lead until SS4 when Teemu Suninen took the rally lead. While also winning his first stage in a Rally1 car. Suninen only held the lead for one stage before Ott Tänak took it back. Tänak remained the event leader at the end of the first day. Taking a 4.2-second lead over Suninen into day two.
Day Two
The second day of Rally Chile BioBio was the Ott Tänak show. With the Estonian taking all but two stage wins on the day. Kalle Rovanperä was the only other driver to win a stage on the day. Tänak ended the second day with a 58.3-second lead over Suninen. The win was Tänak’s to lose at this point, but Tänak didn’t want to celebrate too early. As he knows better than anyone that a lead, even of that size can disappear in an instant.
Day Three
The third and final day of Rally Chile BioBio was the Thierry Neuville show. With Neuville winning three of the day’s four stages. However, none of that mattered in the end as Tänak held on to take the rally win. Tänak wasn’t pushing at all on the final day as expected. Neuville battled with Teemu Suninen for second place. That was until Suninen crashed out on SS15, handing Neuville second and Toyota the manufacturers championship. Kalle Rovanperä took home the Powerstage win.
Drivers’ Championship Standings
Kalle Rovanperä remains in the drivers’ championship lead as expected. Rovanperä now leads Elfyn Evans by 31 points heading into the Central European Rally later this month. Thierry Neuville also remains in his position, staying in third now 31 points behind Evans. Neuville’s championship hunt is officially over. Ott Tänak stayed in fourth despite taking the event win. However, the gap between him and Neuville has shrunk to just 9 points. It’s possible for Tänak to move into a top-three position by the season’s end. Sebastien Ogier stays in fifth, now 47 points behind Tänak. Esapekka Lappi still sits on the edge of a top-five position, just one point behind Ogier.
Tänak Shines
Ott Tänak has had a rough 2023 season. With the Estonian only having one win before Rally Chile BioBio. It doesn’t help matters that the Puma Rally1 has been extremely unreliable. Tänak has had strong performances, but every time he does it seems that the car gives out. It’s been an unfortunate year for the 2019 championship. As Tänak has proven that he is still one of the best drivers in the championship. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for Tänak but unfortunately, it seems to have come too late. As Tänak’s championship hopes have been over for a while. Hopefully, Tänak can start building himself up for next season, whether or not that’s with M-Sport is a different story.
Suninen Shines
Teemu Suninen may have retired on the penultimate stage of Rally Chile BioBio, but that doesn’t take away from his performance. There aren’t many drivers who can say they beat Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans on multiple stages during an event. Especially with just three events worth of experience in a car. Suninen was the second-best driver this weekend behind Tänak. It may have had something to do with road position on the opening day, or it could be a showing sign that Suninen can compete with the big guys.
Lappi and Loubet Roll Out
Esapekka Lappi was set to move into the top five of the drivers’ championship. However, that all came crashing down on the first stage of Rally Chile BioBio. As the Fin would go too tight into a corner and hit something that caused his car to roll. Lappi and his co-driver were okay after the crash that left his i20 with half of a rear end. Just two stages later Pierre-Louis Loubet would suffer the same fate as Lappi. Loubet looked like he was going to have his best event of the season. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t keep it up and rolled out of the event. Loubet also tore half of his rear end off in the crash.
Rally Chile BioBio Links
How Tires Changed Rally Chile BioBio
Day One Recap: WRC1
Day Two Recap: WRC1
Day Three Recap: WRC1
Suninen Crashes Out Of Rally Chile BioBio
Roope Korhonen has won the 2023 WRC3 championship after Diego Dominquez retired from Rally Chile BioBio.
WRC3 Champions
Roope Korhonen takes home his first WRC3 championship this season. Korhonen has won every event he’s competed in WRC3 this season. WRC3 drivers are allowed to elect 5 rounds to score points in, Korhonen has only competed in 4 events, however, that doesn’t seem to make a difference as only 4 events are counted. Diego Dominquez has competed in all 5 of his rounds as of the end of Rally Chile BioBio. The championship race would’ve continued if Domiquez hadn’t suffered a mechanical issue on the opening stage of the final day. All Dominquez had to do was finish the event to guarantee a top-two finish at the event. As only two drivers were competing in the class. However, all Korhonen would’ve had to do from that point was score 5 or so points to win the championship anyway.
Eyes On WRC2
Roope Korhonen has already made it known he has his eyes set on WRC2. It’s likely that Korhonen will compete in the Central European Rally in the WRC2 class later this month. Korhonen did compete at his home event of Secto Rally Finland in a WRC2 car, he finished 19th in the WRC2 class. What’s next for Diego Dominguez is unknown at this point, but, it’s likely, that he’ll also look to move into the WRC2 class. Whether or not Korhonen will compete in his fifth WRC3 event is unknown, however, it doesn’t sound like he’ll have to.
Disappointing End For Domiquez
Diego Dominguez had a disappointing end to his season. Dominguez was a strong driver and one of the favourites to win the WRC Junior Championship and the WRC3 championship. However, due to a mechanical issue, he lost the WRC3 championship. It’s a disappointing end to the season for one of the better up-and-coming drivers in the WRC.
The fourth and final day of Rally Chile BioBio has come to an end. Oliver Solberg held on to take the WRC2 class win.
SS13, Las Pataguas 1
Gus Greensmith opened up the final day of Rally Chile BioBio with a stage win. With Greensmith setting a time 2.5 seconds faster than Emil Lindholm to win the stage. Yohan Rossel finished third fastest on the stage, 0.3 seconds slower than Lindholm. Oliver Solberg posted the fourth fastest time on the stage, 0.4 seconds slower than Rossel. Sami Pajari rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 1.4 seconds slower than Solberg.
SS14, El Poñen 1
Class leader Oliver Solberg took the stage win on SS14. Posting a time 0.3 seconds faster than Sami Pajari to win the stage. Gus Greensmith finished third fastest on the stage, 0.7 seconds slower than Pajari. Nikolay Gryazin set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 3.6 seconds slower than Greensmith. Yohan Rossel rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 3.4 seconds slower than Gryazin.
SS15, Las Pataguas 2
Nikolay Gryazin took the stage win on the 15th stage of Rally Chile BioBio. Gryazin would set a time 4 seconds faster than Gus Greensmith to win the stage. Oliver Solberg finished third fastest on the stage, 0.3 seconds slower than Greensmith. Bruno Bulicia posted the fourth fastest time on the stage, 3.3 seconds slower than Solberg. Yohan Rossel rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.8 seconds slower than Bulicia.
SS16, El Poñen 2, Powerstage
Jorge Martinez took his first stage win of the event on the final stage of Rally Chile BioBio. Martinez would set a time 1.3 seconds faster than Oliver Solberg to win the stage. Gus Greensmtih finished third fastest on the stage, 3 seconds slower than Solberg. Bruno Bulicia posted the fourth fastest time on the stage, 1.1 seconds slower than Greensmith. Nikolay Gryazin rounded out the top five on the stage, 2.5 seconds slower than Bulicia.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team has won the 2023 Manufacturers championship. Find out more below.
Back To Back To Back Champions
The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally team have won their third consecutive Manufacturers championship. The Japanese manufacturer has won the championship since 2021. Taking home the championship this weekend looked like a long shot after Rovanperä and Evans struggled on the third day due to tires. However, that didn’t seem to matter. Rovanperä and Evans managed to finish third and fourth overall. Both drivers were promoted to these positions after Teemu Suninen crashed out on SS15.
Toyota’s 2023 Season
Toyota hasn’t had as dominant of a season as the 2022 season. As Kalle Rovanperä has only won 3 events this season. However, the story this year has seemed to be on Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans. As Ogier has also taken 3 wins this season, but has only driven 6 events so far this season. Elfyn Evans took 2 wins so far this season, including at Secto Rally Finland. Toyota has only lost three events so far this season, making the manufacturers’ championship victory easier. The team started the year where they left off with a win in Rallye Monte-Carlo. Sebastien Ogier won the event to becoming the winningest driver at the event. Kalle Rovanperä didn’t take his first win of the season until Vodafone Rally De Portugal. Evans won the Croatia Rally, while Ogier won Rally Mexico. Ogier also won Safari Rally Kenya which Toyota took home a podium sweep at. Rovanperä was back to his winning ways in Estonia, Evans won Secto Rally Finland and Rovanperä won Rally Greece.
Making History
Toyota moves one step closer to becoming the manufacturer with the second most manufacturer championships in WRC history. The team currently sits just one manufacturer win behind Citroen for the second most. They sit 3 behind Lanica for the most. Since rejoining the WRC in 2016 Toyota has won 4 manufacturers championships. The Japanese team has been nearly unstoppable for the past 5 or so seasons. As they have been able to hire some of the top drivers in the sport, from Ott Tänak to Kalle Rovanperä, the team hasn’t had a lack of talent in their lineup.
The fourth and final day of Rally Chile BioBio has come to an end. Ott Tänak held on to take the rally win.
SS13, Las Pataguas 1
Thierry Neuville started the final day of Rally Chile BioBio with a stage win. Posting a time 4.8 seconds faster than Teemu Suninen to win the stage. Elfyn Evans finished with the third fastest on the stage, 0.2 seconds slower than Suninen. Ott Tänak set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 5.8 seconds slower than Evans. Kalle Rovanperä rounded out the top five on the stage, 0.6 seconds slower than Tänak.
SS14, El Poñen 1
Thierry Neuville also took the stage win on SS14. With Neuville setting a time 2.4 seconds faster than Teemu Suninen to take his second consecutive stage win. Ott Tänak finished with the third fastest on the stage, 0.7 seconds slower than Suninen. Elfyn Evans posted the fourth fastest time on the stage, 2.0 seconds slower than Tänak. Kalle Rovanperä once again rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 3 seconds slower than Evans.
SS15, Las Pataguas 2
Thierry Neuville also took the stage win on the 15th stage of Rally Chile BioBio. With Neuville posting a time 6.7 seconds faster than Elfyn Evans to take his third consecutive stage win. Takamoto Katsuta finished with the third fastest time on the stage, 3.5 seconds slower than Evans. Ott Tänak set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 3.4 seconds slower than Katsuta. Kalle Rovanperä once again rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 11.5 seconds slower than Tänak.
SS16, El Poñen 2, Powerstage
Kalle Rovanperä took home the stage win on the final stage of Rally Chile BioBio. Rovanperä would set a time 3 seconds faster than Elfyn Evans to win the stage. Thierry Neuville finished third fastest on the stage, 2.6 seconds slower than Evans. Ott Tänak posted the fourth fastest time on the stage, 2.4 seconds slower than Neuville. Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 2.6 seconds slower than Tänak.
Teemu Suninen has crashed out of Rally Chile BioBio. Find out more about his crash and what it means for Suninen below.
Oh No
Teemu Suninen was on pace to finish second overall at Rally Chile BioBio. It was also set to be his best event in a Rally1 car. Unfortunately, just 7 km into SS15 Suninen went off the road. His rally was ended as a result of the crash. Suninen joins teammate Esapekka Lappi and M-Sport driver Pierre-Louis Loubet as the only drivers to crash out of Rally Chile BioBio in the Rally1 class. Suninen’s crash out didn’t involve as many rolls as Lappi or Loubet’s outs, however.
What Suninen Being Out Means
With Teemu Suninen out it promotes Thierry Neuville to second place, 44.6 seconds behind Ott Tänak heading into the Powerstage. It was suspected Neuville wouldn’t get a team order for Suninen to move over so Neuville could take the much-needed championship points. However, even if that order was issued it has no effect now as Suninen is out and Neuville is in second. With nearly 45 seconds separating Neuville from Elfyn Evans who sits third, second is Neuville’s spot to lose at this point.
There is also an upside for Kalle Rovanperä in all of this. As now the reigning drivers champion sits fourth overall heading into the final stage. Meaning now Rovanperä will take home fourth place points as opposed to fifth from the event. This still isn’t the result Rovanperä was hoping for however, as he had an outside chance of winning his second drivers championship on his birthday (today).
Gearing Up For The Powerstage
The final stage of Rally Chile BioBio is set to get underway shortly. The Powerstage will start up in just under an hour’s time from this article being posted. Will Ott Tänak hold on to take his second win of the season? Who will win the coveted 5 bonus Powerstage points? All of that will be answered soon enough.
Tire issues on day three of Rally Chile BioBio changed the rally completely, but how? Find out below.
For Context
Day three of Rally Chile BioBio saw drivers face 154 km of stages, with each loop being 77 km. The Pirelli tires used by drivers couldn’t hold up to the sheer heat and length of the loops. With most drivers ending each of the morning stages with completely worn tires. By the end of the morning loop over half the field of WRC1 drivers had grinded their wheels down to the rim. Changing all tires between the stages wasn’t an option. At most you could change two of your tires, but that still left two worn-out tires on the car. The soft compound tires stood no chance to the conditions, but what about the hard compound? They didn’t fare much better. Sure nobody ended the stage completely on a rim unless they got a puncture, which in any case was changed mid-stage. Drivers in the afternoon loop were completely on tire-preserving duty. Nobody was really pushing, but more on that in a second.
How Tires Changed Rally Chile BioBio
Normally during a rally event drivers aren’t completely focused on tire preservation. Besides on the final day in which most drivers try to save tires for the Powerstage. Sure tire preservation is a part of rallying on any weekend. However, in most cases, you don’t see drivers pretty much just drive through the stage with no push. That’s basically what happened on day three of Rally Chile BioBio. I mean when Kalle Rovanperä isn’t pushing it at all you know there’s an issue. Normally drivers aren’t losing a handful of seconds due to tires unless they get a puncture. That’s also what happened on day three. As nobody was safe. Everyone from Ott Tänak to Oliver Solberg in WRC2 had tire issues. But why is this? Is it the length of the loops? Is it just conditions? Was it another factor? The short answer is, it’s the length and the conditions. A lot of times on the stages the drivers were overheating their tires. Causing the tires to lose tread faster as a result. This was merely a result of the conditions, seeing as the stages took place on warm gravel on a generally warm spring day. Add that to the 20+ km on each stage and you have achieved a great way to destroy any tire in sight.
Why Did Tire Preservation Change The Event?
Simply put, tire preservation took away drivers’ chances at gaining time and being able to push. Ott Tänak was the only one to benefit from the tire chaos on the day. By extending his lead to some 58 seconds ahead of Suninen. Without the tire troubles, Tänak would likely only lead by about a dozen seconds. With nobody pushing it opened up a lot of time for Tänak to take. Mind you Tänak wasn’t exempt from the tire problem, but he didn’t get hit hard by it either. He did just enough to preserve the tires whilst gaining time. The tire issue changed drivers’ mindsets from winning to just wanting to finish. Sure both of those things are on drivers’ minds during any event, but when nature is against you, you turn to survival. Hopefully, the tires don’t prove to be as big of an issue on the fourth and final day of Rally Chile BioBio.